A discussion of Alaina M. Morgan's new book, Atlantic Crescent: Building Geographies of Black and Muslim Liberation in the African Diaspora (The University of North Carolina Press, 2025). The author will be joined in conversation by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Minkah Makalani (Johns Hopkins University), moderated by Taj Frazier (USC). Organized in partnership with the Van Hunnick History Department, Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, and Black Studies Center. Registration is required. REGISTER HERE

About the Book: In the period between the twentieth century's two world wars, Black and Muslim people from the United States, South Asia, and the Caribbean collided across an expansive diasporic geography. As these people and their ideas came into contact, they reignited the practice of Islam among people of African descent living in the United States and the Anglophone Caribbean and prompted them to adopt new understandings of their place in the world. As the freedom dreams of these diasporic communities met the realities and limitations of colonialism and race in the Atlantic world, Islam presented new strategies for combating oppression and introduced new allies in the struggle. 

Envisioning the geography and significance of this encounter within what she calls the Atlantic Crescent, Alaina M. Morgan draws on an expansive archive to show how Black and Muslim people imagined, understood, and acted on their religious and racial identities. Morgan reveals how her subjects' overlapping diasporic encounters with Islam led to varied local adaptation as well as common ground to pursue liberation from racial subjugation and white supremacy. More

About the Author: Alaina M. Morgan is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at USC.  Trained as a historian of the African Diaspora, Professor Morgan’s research focuses on the historic utility of religion, in particular Islam, in racial liberation and anti-colonial movements of the mid- to late-twentieth century Atlantic world.  As part of a body of work of intellectual, political, and religious history, Professor Morgan's research teases out the connections between religious identity and racial formation, intellectual discourse and grassroots activism, and local and global politics.  

Open to attendants outside of USC. An excerpt of the book will be made available to registered attendants. Registration before the event is required. 

This event is part of the Levan Institute for the Humanities' “Book Chats” series, conversations about new books published by USC scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. To see more events in this series, including recordings of past events, visit https://dornsife.usc.edu/levan-institute/book-chats/.