Help Sonia Wind return to graduate school to earn a PhD and continue bringing Black Muslim history into communities, classrooms, and public memory.

My name is Sonia Wind, and I am a historian dedicated to recovering and sharing the histories of Black Muslims, stories that have too often been overlooked, erased, or misunderstood.

I was born and raised in France to a Malian father, and my passion for history grew from a desire to better understand the experiences and intellectual traditions of African and Black Muslims. As a Black Muslim woman, pursuing an academic career has meant overcoming financial hardship, uncertainty, and obstacles that often make higher education inaccessible. I came to the US in 2021 as an international student, and despite multiple challenges, I have remained committed to my dream of becoming a scholar whose work serves both academia and the wider community. 

I have now been admitted to a PhD program where I will specialize in Black Muslim history. My research explores the lives of African Muslims in the Americas, particularly how they preserved their faith, knowledge, and identities despite slavery and displacement. Attending this Phd program will help to continue my research and share my work publicly through my platform, Nana Asmau Project. 

In February 2026, I founded The Nana Asma'u Project, inspired by the legacy of the renowned 19th-century West African scholar and educator Nana Asma'u. The project was created to make Black Muslim history accessible to everyone through public lectures, educational workshops, online courses, and community programming. My goal is to bridge the gap between academic research and the public, ensuring that these histories reach schools, families, mosques, and community organizations.

One of the projects I am most proud of is my work on Bilali Muhammad, a West African Muslim scholar, Fulani from Guinea, who was enslaved in Georgia in the early nineteenth century. Bilali is best known for writing what is considered one of the oldest surviving Islamic manuscripts in the United States. Through public lectures and educational programming, I have worked to bring greater attention to his remarkable life and scholarship, highlighting Georgia's often-overlooked Muslim history and demonstrating that Islam has been part of the American story since the nation's earliest years. 

This fundraiser will help me begin my PhD by covering tuition, university fees, books, research expenses, and the costs of returning to graduate school. Your support will allow me to continue researching, teaching, and expanding educational initiatives like The Nana Asma'u Project while completing my Phd.

By supporting my education, you are investing in more than one student's degree. You are helping preserve overlooked histories, support public scholarship, and ensure that future generations can learn about the profound intellectual, spiritual, and cultural contributions of Black Muslims throughout history.

Every contribution, no matter the amount, brings me one step closer to earning my PhD and continuing this mission.

Thank you for believing in me, in this work, and in the importance of preserving Black Muslim history. I have been posting and sharing my work online so you can follow my journey. 

Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nanaasmauproject/, join my newsletters by writing at nana.asmau.project@gmail.com, and have a look at my website

 https://nanaasmauproject.org