Yarrow Mamout: Muslim African Intellectual in Colonial America

Yarrow Mamout, a Muslim man from Guinea, was brought to Maryland as an enslaved person around 1752 and eventually purchased his freedom. He became a prosperous property owner in Georgetown (now Washington D.C.), owned shares in the Columbia Bank, and was celebrated for his intellect and longevity. He was painted twice — once by Charles Willson Peale in 1819 — and is one of the best-documented Muslim Africans in early American history, demonstrating the presence of Islam among enslaved Africans.