{
  "dataset": "claims",
  "description": "Each key claim with its evidence level, source class, sources, recorded debate, and revision history.",
  "publisher": "Threads of Connection",
  "url": "https://usmuslim.org/data/claims.json",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  },
  "citation": "Threads of Connection, usmuslim.org/data/claims.json",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-10-22",
  "count": 10,
  "records": [
    {
      "id": "morocco",
      "claim": "Morocco opened its ports to American vessels in 1777; the 1786 Treaty of Peace and Friendship formalized relations and remains the oldest unbroken treaty in U.S. history.",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "primary",
      "sourceIds": [
        "morocco-1786"
      ],
      "debate": "Whether the 1777 decree counts as formal 'recognition' of independence is debated. The decree opened ports; formal relations date to the 1786 treaty.",
      "revisions": [
        {
          "date": "2026-10-05",
          "note": "Changed 'longest unbroken treaty' to 'oldest unbroken treaty' to match U.S. government phrasing and the rest of the site."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "founders-inclusion",
      "claim": "Founding-era writers and delegates explicitly named Muslims ('Mahometans') in arguments over religious liberty and the ban on religious tests for office.",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "primary",
      "sourceIds": [
        "va-statute-1786",
        "nc-debate-1788",
        "washington-1785",
        "locke-1689",
        "spellberg-2013"
      ],
      "debate": "Inclusion in principle is well documented; how far individual framers expected Muslim citizens in practice is interpreted differently by historians.",
      "revisions": [
        {
          "date": "2026-10-22",
          "note": "Changed 'lawmakers explicitly considered Muslims when framing' to 'writers and delegates explicitly named Muslims in arguments over': the support includes a private letter, Locke, and Anti-Federalist objections, not only lawmakers framing law."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "enslaved-literacy",
      "claim": "Enslaved West African Muslims in America left writing in Arabic, including Omar ibn Said's 1831 autobiography and the Bilali Document.",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "primary",
      "sourceIds": [
        "omar-1831",
        "bilali-doc",
        "bluett-1734",
        "mali-manuscripts"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "enslaved-numbers",
      "claim": "A meaningful share of enslaved Africans brought to the Americas were Muslim.",
      "evidence": "debated",
      "cls": "scholarly",
      "sourceIds": [
        "diouf-1998",
        "gomez-2005"
      ],
      "debate": "Estimates vary widely depending on region of origin and method. Scholars give ranges, not a single figure, and this site does not pick one."
    },
    {
      "id": "yarrow",
      "claim": "Yarrow Mamout, a Muslim freed in 1796, became a property owner and investor in Georgetown.",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "scholarly",
      "sourceIds": [
        "peale-1819"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "said",
      "claim": "Nicholas Said, a West African-born Muslim, served in the 55th Massachusetts during the Civil War.",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "institutional",
      "sourceIds": [
        "said-1863"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "mosques",
      "claim": "Early American mosques include Ross, North Dakota (1929) and the Mother Mosque of America in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1934).",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "institutional",
      "sourceIds": [
        "ross-1929",
        "mother-mosque-1934"
      ],
      "debate": "'First mosque' depends on definition (purpose-built, longest-standing, still in use). Each site's claim is stated with its definition."
    },
    {
      "id": "elkader",
      "claim": "Elkader, Iowa (founded 1846) is a rare U.S. city named for an Arab and Muslim figure, Emir Abdelkader.",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "institutional",
      "sourceIds": [
        "abdelkader-elkader"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "jefferson-quran",
      "claim": "Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, took his ceremonial oath on Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an in 2007.",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "institutional",
      "sourceIds": [
        "ellison-2007",
        "quran-1806"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "estevanico-origin",
      "claim": "Estevanico, described by Cabeza de Vaca as a \"negro alárabe\" native of Azamor, Morocco, was one of four survivors of the Narváez expedition who crossed the Gulf Coast and Southwest between 1528 and 1536.",
      "evidence": "strong",
      "cls": "primary",
      "sourceIds": [
        "cabeza-de-vaca-1542",
        "nps-esteban-dorantes",
        "tsha-estevanico"
      ],
      "inference": "Cabeza de Vaca gives his origin as Azamor and calls him \"alárabe\" (Arabized or Arabic-speaking), and the Texas State Historical Association records that he was baptized a Christian in Spain before 1527. Neither states what religion he practiced earlier. That he was raised Muslim is a historical inference from his birthplace and language, not a recorded fact, so this site does not describe him as a Muslim explorer.",
      "checkedOn": "2026-10-03"
    }
  ]
}