In May 1893, Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb, an American convert to Islam, communicated with landowners in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to purchase property in order to establish colonies of Muslim Indian immigrants. A month earlier, Julius Chambers, a New York newspaper editor, put forth a call to convert the masses of African Americans in the South to Islam. This essay describes the two Islamization schemes, their interrelation, and their ultimate demise. Drawing mainly from Southern newspapers, the resultant press reaction both in support of and in opposition to Webb’s immigration plan is also presented. The essay is a starting point for further investigation into early American Muslim history
