Fatimah Fanusie, Ph.D.

Program Director for Justice Leaders

Fatimah Fanusie is a historian of 19th- and 20th-century American religion whose research is an evolving reappraisal of the study of African American Islam, the modern Civil Rights Movement and Islam in the West. She is also a lecturer in the Islamic Studies department at Johns Hopkins University and a Historian Consultant for the Howard Thurman Historical home in Daytona Beach, Florida. She received her B.A. in History and Arabic from Lincoln University, her M.A. in American History from Tufts University, and her Ph.D. in American History from Howard University.

EXPERTISE

Islamic Development in America up to 1965
African American Islam
African American Religion and the Long Civil Rights Movement

Selected Presentations

“Thinking Interreligiously on Civic Challenges: Water Justice and the Abrahamic Traditions,” International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ) Annual Meeting, June 22, 2021
“Anti-Black Racism, Antisemitism & Islamophobia Today – Interrogating the Role of Supersessionism in White Supremacy,” Catholic Theological Society of America Annual Meeting, Christianity & Judaism Consultation, June 11, 2021
“Mapping Islam and Justice onto the City of Boston: Mohammad’s Temple No. 11 and the Economic and Social Empowerment of 1948-1998,” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, November 2020
“Water Justice in the Abrahamic Traditions,” Morgan State University, January 2020

Howard Thurman: Moral anchor to the Civil Rights Movement

2023-10-04

Howard Thurman was arguably the most important 20th century African American religious leader before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and is universally acclaimed as the moral anchor to the modern Civil Rights Movement. This minicourse introduces participants to Thurman in the contexts of African American religious and cultural activism. It explores his relationships with pivotal 20th century actors including Mahatma Gandhi, Reinhold Neibhur, Abraham Heschel, Olive Schreiner, Rufus Jones, Paul Robeson, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mary McCloud Bethune, demonstrating Thurman as connector and convener, who engineered spiritual reform and an inward journey towards common ground and interfaith work in America.

Walking the Justice Talk: How 4 Baltimore Leaders Put Principles into Practice

2022-02-22

When we talk about justice and economic empowerment, religious principles inevitably ground the discussion. Our communal ideas of fairness, dignity, and concern for the vulnerable are rooted in religious teachings and scriptures. In this panel, which is a companion to the ICJS course on Economic Justice: Interreligious Reflections on Fairness and Dignity, four Baltimore activists and nonprofit leaders will discuss how their religious identities ground their motivation for doing their work to improve the Baltimore community and why thinking interreligiously matters. All four panel members were members of the 2021 ICJS Justice Leaders Fellowship. Panelists: Farah Shakour Bridges, 4B4 Education Inc. Leon L. Pinkett III, former Baltimore City Council Member, Baltimore Arts Realty Corp. Jessica Klaitman, Let’s Thrive Baltimore Miriam Avins, Baltimore City Commission on Sustainability and Avins Consulting. The panel discussion will be moderated by Fatimah Fanusie, ICJS Program Director, Justice Leaders.

Select Publications and Presentations

Water Justice in Islamic Tradition(s)

From the original ICJS video and discussion series,Imagining Justice in Baltimore.

Fard Muhammad in Historic Context

Fanusie speaks at Georgetown University on Fard Muhammad, founder of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam, one aspect of strategic Ahmadiyya efforts to cultivate Islam in America.

Examining the Pioneering Role of Imam W. Deen Mohammed and the Committee to Remove All Images that Attempt to Portray the Divine (CRAID)

Fatimah Fanusie, PhD, ICJS Program Director for Justice Leaders, spoke at an event for Princeton University’s Muslim Life Program.