http://www.islam101.com/history/muslim_us_hist.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_United_States
http://www.muslimsinamerica.org/inde...d=14&Itemid=28
Richard's earlier post piqued my curiosity. I have spent the last few hours doing a little searching and there is really not that much out there that supports a rich history of contribution to american society. There is the occassional individual who did something mentionable. Even the sites listed above, which were only a few of what I checked, have many discrepancies among them.
Some of the Islamic specific sites list dates back to the 12th century, stating Islamic explorers came to the Americas then. They mainly say it was Central and South America but include North America among their explorations. We all know there were muslims on the ships with Spanish explorers, but were their contributions truly significant?
Many of the sites claiming 12th and 13th century, and some earlier, explorations, seem to rely on works by Dr. Barry Fell, an oceanographer and, depending on which site you check, amateur epigrapher. There are many sites which denounce Dr. Fell's work and few which try to support it. What was interesting was, all of the Islamic sites which claim Muslim exploration of the new world before the vikings cite his studies.
There were several sites which claim the percentage of muslims among slaves brought to America as anywhere between 10 - 30%. They make no mention of the percentage of muslims who were the "sellers".
For the most part, contributions listed on these sites are more toward the establishment of Islam in America and the building of Islamic mosques and communities, rather than general contributions of science, art, exploration, law and so forth. If someone can find references to specific contributions which had nothing to do with the spread of Islam in America, I would like to see them.