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.