Chasing Shadows: Muslims in Oregon pre-1960’s

           Historical records from Muslims in Oregon are rare prior to the 1960’s. Early Muslim presence was seldom recorded because of their transient realities. Muslims, like other minority groups, have often been left out of Oregon’s history in favor of a pioneer narrative that focuses on settlers of European Christian backgrounds coming westward to claim land and make permanent settlements. It is these settlers who governed the region and left behind extensive records and thus it is their lives that have constituted the official record of the state. However, White Christians’ stories and attempts to settle permanently are always intertwined with experiences of not only the original inhabitants of the land but also of migrants from East and South Asia. Few of the migrants from South Asia were likely of Muslim backgrounds. The existing record shows that they either stayed in Oregon for a short time before returning home, or simply passed through on their journeys elsewhere. In short, Oregon’s rapid economic development and large population growth during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century came at the expense of the original inhabitants of the region and was beholden both to American pioneers from traveling overland from the East and to global communities of migrants, traversing the Pacific Ocean, particularly from East and South Asia.

It is amongst these transient figures that we glimpse sights of Oregon’s first Muslims. Some, like the Afghan Zarif Khan, arrived at large ports like Seattle and Portland before passing through Oregon quickly on their way to other destinations where they established communities that endure until the present day. Although these migrants largely travelled alone, they typically congregated in professions and locations with fellow migrants; Khan, an Afghan tamale salesmen, worked in and around the Rocky Mountains.[1] Other migrants came in larger groups at the beginning of the twentieth century, with South Asians predominate amongst them. South Asian Muslims’ immigration into the Pacific Northwest was rather small in comparison to Japanese and Chinese migrants, and largely occurred between 1905 and 1914. Towards the end of the twentieth century, anti-colonial unrest in India, colonial exclusion policies in British Australia and South Africa, and the expulsion of Indian nationalists set off a wave of South Asian migration to North America. Historian Nayan Shah estimates that between 15,000-30,000 people, mostly men, came to North America.[2] Many came first to Canada, another British Crown territory, but after British Columbia’s 1908 ban on Asian immigration thousands of Indians migrated from Canada to the United States. Some were Muslims, others were Hindus, but the overwhelming majority were Sikhs, believers in a monotheist religion from the Punjab region of India. South Asian immigrants to Oregon participated in the state’s booming economic growth as loggers, farmers, migrant laborers, or factory workers who sought employment along the Oregon Coast or the Columbia River.

Muslim history in Oregon is thus firstly transnational, as migrants usually came to work for a time and departed back to their countries of origin within a matter of years. Johanna Ogden, in her research on early-twentieth-century Oregon’s Punjabi population, argues that large foreign populations in rural Astoria, Oregon underscore the importance of global migrants in the North American West’s development and wealth creation.[3] This was partly due to the state’s relative safety for Asian migrants. While Oregon newspapers frequently ran racist articles about Asians and mobs often incited riots in Portland and St. Johns, migrants did not face Asian exclusion leagues the likes of which developed in San Francisco and Vancouver, British Columbia.[4] Early Oregonian leaders sought out Asian laborers, among whom were an unknown but small number of Muslims, to develop their underpopulated state. Officials like newspaperman Harvey Scott and Judge Matthew Deady enacted policy and espoused rhetoric attempting to create a sense of safety for foreigners, as they promoted the idea that Oregon was growing rich from the work of Asian laborers who had been driven there.[5] Due to their efforts, Oregon’s experience in the early 20^th century largely ran counter to the sprawling racial violence that engulfed much of the West. Migrants found relative peace to seek out employment, which indeed contributed to Oregon’s economic development particularly in the canning, timber, and fishing industries. So too, South Asians and Muslims in Oregon used the state’s safety to pursue their own agendas of acquiring wealth and participating in the politics of their home countries, the rise of India’s Ghadar Party in Astoria being a notable example.[6] Though largely nameless like most early South Asians, Muslims in Oregon functioned both as domestic drivers of the state’s development and as international actors while living in Oregon.

Early Muslim Communities in Oregon: 1965-1975

Nationwide anti-immigrant fervor in the 1920’s and immigration quotas established by the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 slowed the arrival and circulation of Muslims in Oregon nearly to a halt. The decade’s ban on large-scale immigration continued through the depression years of the 1930’s and largely functioned until the 1960’s. The earliest self-identifying Muslims known to have settled in Oregon in this area were among the members of the Ahmadiyya Movement and the Nation of Islam, an American new religious movement aiming to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic conditions of African Americans. Four to five members of the Nation of Islam prayed together in each other’s homes as early as 1965, while a group minister arrived from California in 1967 to serve the growing community of nine members. Their informal association, which traces its roots in Portland further back than members of other Portland mosques and Muslim community, came to be known as the Muslim Community Center of Portland. The group met in the backs of African American stores and buildings in Northeast Portland, and by 1968 its members had enough funds to establish an official temple and community center.[7] Portland’s Nation of Islam chapter was highly community-oriented through newspaper publication, religious education, and fundraising through bake sales and food sales. However, the group remained insular amongst the city’s black community up until the temple’s restructuring and reorientation to Sunni Islam in 1975.[8] Their community remains active and engaged to this day in North Portland, though a fire in 2013 damaged the inside of their mosque and temporarily displaced members. Their mosque, located in a storefront on Martin Luther King Blvd., is run by a cooperative of its members and is well attended for prayers, education events, and potlucks.

In addition to inter-American Muslim migrants, many of Portland’s first Muslims came from South Asia. The founders of Portland’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community were a Pakistani family that emigrated to Canada in 1957, before the father’s neurosurgery residence brought the family to the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland in 1964.[9] Like other immigrants to the United States, many Muslims came to Oregon seeking freedom of religion. Portland’s small Ahmadiyya community, an Islamic movement founded in South Asia, was one of the first Muslim groups present in Oregon partially due to criticism and persecution sustained from other Muslims in Pakistan.[10] However, the arrival of Muslim immigrants who founded Oregon’s first long-term Muslim communities primarily followed the availability of professional opportunities. Like the father of the first Ahmadiyya family, many Muslims were medical doctors who were incentivized to move to the United States by immigration policies that favored immigrants in professions that were in demand in the United States. In particular, the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 created a large gap in health services for inner cities and rural areas as American-born doctors established private practices in wealthy suburbs.[11] The federal government attempted to fill this gap by recruiting foreign physicians, particularly in less-settled states like Oregon.

This professional draw was a key factor in the growth of Portland’s Muslim community. The first Ahmadi doctor was joined by a second one at OHSU in 1968, where the two became acquainted. These two men and their families got to know the five or six other Muslim families in Portland at the time, and the small group began to meet together. These early gatherings of Muslims were generally limited to Friday prayers and annual Eid feasts (the celebratory breaking of the Ramadan fasts). Beyond the arrival of Islamic professionals, Oregon’s Muslim population grew chiefly through the presence of international students at Portland State University, Oregon State University, the University of Oregon, and University of Portland, amongst other universities. These students’ backgrounds were highly diverse, in contrast to the groups of primarily South Asian Muslim professionals and African Americans in the Nation of Islam. Shared school environment and senses of faith helped bring students together into several communities of Shi‘i and Sunni Muslims that were more transient and international in the 1970’s, particularly as students gathered in makeshift, more informal spaces like campus apartments or student housing to pray and to socialize. Although Muslim presence is highly centered in Portland there are mosques and Islamic centers throughout Oregon, notably the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis and the Abu-Bakr As-Siddiq Islamic Center in Eugene.

The Diversification of Oregon’s Muslim Community: 1975-2001

As Portland’s Muslim population continued to grow, community sites and collective activities expanded to meet their needs, chiefly through establishing spaces to pray and socialize as well as educating children. Growing groups of Muslim students and professionals began to formalize their organizations, elect officials, and seek out permanent community spaces. In 1975, five Pakistani families with small children came together biweekly to study the Qur’an and discuss practicing Islam in America. They did this with the goals of deepening their religious commitments and teaching Islamic values to their children, which they hoped would give Islam a means to incorporate more fully in their lives as new Americans.[12] Their informal group became the Islamic Society of Greater Portland (ISGP), the oldest official Muslim organization in Oregon, which “aims to provide an environment for social engagement and friendship between Muslims.”[13] The group originally focused on planning Eid dinners, organizing prayers, and hosting events at members’ homes, but quickly expanded to hold events at local churches and community centers. They became more fully organized in the mid-1980’s and formally registered themselves in May 1985. Educational programs continued to develop with children’s needs in mind, as the ISGP coordinated with the Islamic Society of North America to obtain books and educational curriculum, holding Sunday School programs at a house that functioned as a makeshift mosque.[14]

While Oregon Muslims lacked proper mosques or ostensible community facilities for most of their history, growing numbers of believers and increasingly well-funded communities began to convert buildings into mosques or construct them in the 1980’s. The Ahmadiyya community was the first to purposefully construct a mosque in Portland, due not only to the high professional standings of its members but also the support they received from the national Ahmadiyya Movement. With a third doctor arriving from Pakistan to teach at the University of Portland, the community fundraised amongst themselves in the early 1980’s and purchased land in Southwest Portland in 1985 where they built their mosque and inaugurated its completion in October of 1987.[15] Other mosques in Portland also developed alongside the size and professional standings of their communities. Portland’s largest mosque community, Masjid as-Sabr, had operated in a converted home since 1979, although their space could not accommodate larger events like Eid feasts. As the mosque began to host the ISGP’s Sunday School in 1987 and steadily draw Muslim migrants to Southwest Portland, community leaders were able to fundraise for and complete the building of a new mosque in 1998.[16] This was made possible in large part by the demographic changes in their community: former students had become doctors, engineers, and professors who could help shoulder the cost.

Masjid as-Sabr is home to one of the largest, if not the largest, Muslim community in Portland, approximately 700-1,000 people as of 2004.[17] However, diversity of Islamic beliefs has prominently come into view as Oregon’s Muslim community, specifically that of Portland, has grown. These varying interpretations of Islam cultivate distinct communities of Muslims, who range from being highly conservative to spiritual movements that see their religiously practices only loosely associated with Islam. A variety of people in Portland refer to themselves as Sufis, some of whom are observing Muslims, others of whom observe fewer Islamic practices, and others who reject any connection between Sufism and Islam.[18] These groups primarily focus on physical acts of spiritual development and attempt to arrive at experiential knowledge of the divine through dancing, teaching, and chanting. However, these organizations have generally remained smaller, have fewer practical or educational needs, and do not establish religious community centers, preferring instead to meet in members’ homes.[19]

Beyond these binaries of practice, numerous Islamic groups have settled in Oregon and enjoyed its ability to accommodate various interpretations of Islam. Many communities, like the Bilal Masjid, have continued to develop around newer waves of educated professionals who have immigrated to Oregon. Bilal originates with eight to ten Muslim professionals who were hired by tech giants in the Beaverton-Hillsboro area between 1987-1991 and settled there with their families. Praying first at the downtown Masjid as-Sabr, the soon-to-be-Bilal community decided to form a new mosque in 1992, in the hopes of creating a space closer to their homes and more accommodating of its members’ diverse backgrounds.[20] This they accomplished through extensive fundraising, finally finishing their mosque in 1999. Bilal’s emergence shows that the growth of Oregon’s Muslim community is closely tied to diverse interpretations of the Islamic faith. Consciously, the Bilal Masjid functions without a designated imam (prayer leader). This was born from “a conscious desire to avoid polarization in the community,” in the words of a founding member, and to promote an accepting environment for people to follow their own interpretations of Islam.[21] Certainly, it is also a reflexive response to refugee resettlements that have brought new groups of Muslims to Oregon, amongst whom are Afghans, Iraqis, Somalis, Bosnians, and others fleeing violence and persecution worldwide.[22] As the world has become smaller and international travel been made easier, Muslims communities in Oregon have absorbed fellow believers of increasingly varied background, nationality, and economic means.

Even as different Muslim sects establish their autonomy in Oregon, the Islamic community at large has come together in several regional organizations that are largely oriented towards the education of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The Islamic Society of Greater Portland and the Muslim Educational Trust (MET) both developed originally with the intention of creating social spaces for Muslims and offering religious education to Muslim youth.[23] Other organizations, like the Islamic Center of Portland (ICP), began in the 80’s as hubs for Shii Muslims and other minority groups before developing into more diverse communities. Rapid growth of Muslim communities accompanied the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the first Gulf War of 1990-91. However, this also brought increased scrutiny of Muslims which came to a head following the events of September 11^th. As such, these organizations have increasingly become spaces for diverse groups of Muslims throughout Oregon to sponsor educational initiatives about Islam.[24] This means engaging and interacting with other communities of Muslims along with non-Muslims. The ISGP and MET help Oregon Muslims connect with national Muslim organizations, as well as each other, through social engagement and coordinating Islamic education for both children and adults. They also represent group efforts to respond to non-Muslim perceptions of the faith that have often been negative. Other local advocacy groups, including AYCO (African Youth Community Organization) and CAIRO, are also active in regionally in Portland to a related end: they provide social services to people in need from Muslim-majority regions of the world, regardless of their specific religious affiliation.

Developing Outreach Amidst Increasing Scrutiny: 2001-present

           While the Oregon Muslim community has been indelibly shaped by its members’ contributions to Oregon’s professional and economic development, its diversity of religious interpretations, and its transnationalism, it has of course been changed by the terrorist attacks of September 11^th, 2001. All Muslims Americans and their communities have struggled with magnified scrutiny in the wake of such horror, but Oregon Muslims faced two additional implications of their face post-9/11 that threaten to cast all Muslims in a pejorative light. First was the 2002 arrest of the ‘Portland Seven’, a group of men who set out to join the anti-American jihad in Afghanistan. While only one man successfully reached Afghanistan and was killed there while the others were successfully arrested, their presence in Portland and regular attendance at Masjid as-Sabr were provocative implications of all Oregon Muslims.[25] Second was the arrest and later acquittal of lawyer Brandon Mayfield in 2004. Mayfield, a lawyer who had defended the ‘Portland Seven’ two years earlier, was wrongfully accused of being implicated in the 2004 Madrid train bombings after fingerprints on an unexploded bomb were found to match his.[26] This evidence was seemingly compounded by his conversion to Islam and marriage to his Egyptian-American wife. As Mayfield, who was never charged with a crime, opined: “being Muslim was the circumstantial evidence of my guilt”.[27] Later in November 2010, a young Somali Muslim was arrested by the FBI for attempting to trigger a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland amidst serious concern of entrapment by the Oregon Muslim community.

           While Muslims throughout America struggle with these pejorative assumptions about them and their faith, Oregon’s Muslim communities have responded through abundant outreach programs to try and engage their fellow Oregonians on positive terms. The events of 9/11 have arguably forced Oregon Muslims to associate more readily with non-Muslims, especially after the additional scrutiny that followed the arrests of the Portland Seven.[28] Muslims immigrants had primarily cultivated senses of belonging through their professional positions, their skills in which were a means of transcending cultural difference, and through their religious identity, which proved more challenging to publicly identify with as new Americans.[29] Individual mosques and their imams have led outreach movements that primarily address these questions of belonging and widespread beliefs that Muslims cannot belong to American society. Their outreach takes form in a plethora of activities that include sponsoring interfaith activities, providing social services to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, organizing dialogues, panel discussions, and picnics, partnering with local law enforcement agencies, ministering to prisoners, and engaging media portrayals of Muslims. These efforts attempt, through various means, to challenge misconceptions about Muslims and to sponsor more positive visibility of their religion. But moreover, these various outreach programs constitute a process of integrating Muslims more fully into their communities as Americans, spurred by a suspicion of their origins and practices. Mohammad Haque, one of the founding members of the Bilal Masjid, summarized the process of interfaith dialogues—and coexistence writ large—to knowing one’s community. “Interfaith activity…” he said, “…I may be exaggerating here, but I think this is why God has created [us]—there’s a surah in the Qur’an, that I created you in nations and tribes so that you [can] know each other.”[30]

An abridged version of this publication is forthcoming with the Oregon Encyclopedia, a project run by the Oregon Historical Society. 

 
  [1] Kathryn Schulz, “Citizen Khan: Behind a Muslim community in northern Wyoming lies one enterprising man—and countless tamales,” The New Yorker Magazine, 30 May 2016. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/06/zarif-khans-tamales-and-the-muslims-of-sheridan-wyoming

[2] Nayan Shah, Stranger Intimacy: Contesting Race, Sexuality, and Law in the North American West, (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, University of California Press: 2011), p. 3-5

[3] Johanna Ogden, “Ghadar, Historical Silences, and Notions of Belonging”, Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 113 no. 2 (2012), p. 179

[4] H.A. Millis. “East Indian Immigration to British Columbia and the Pacific Coast States”, The American Economic Review, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Mar., 1911), pp. 74

[5] Consult the Oregon Encyclopedia’s entries on Matthew Deady:

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/deady_matthew_1824_1893_/#.YSgLjI5KhPY

And on Harvey Scott:

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/scott_harvey_1838_1910_/#.YSgLxo5KhPY

[6] Consult the Oregon Encyclopedia’s entry on East Indians and the Ghadar Party in Oregon:

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/east_indians_of_oregon_and_the_ghadar_party/#.YSgL5Y5KhPY

[7] Jonathan Grass, “Profile written in 2004 of the Muslim Community Center” (Portland Muslim History Project, 3 September 2004)

[8] Grass, “Muslim Community Center”

[9] Jonathan Grass, “Profile written in 2004 of the Rizwan Mosque” (Portland Muslim History Project, 3 September 2004)

[10] Grass, “Rizwan Mosque”

[11] Lance D. Larid, Wahiba Abu-Ras, Farid Senzai, “Cultural Citizenship and Belonging: Muslim International Medical Graduates in the USA” (Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 33:3 (2013)), p. 356

[12] Anne Marie Armentrout, “Profile written in 2004 of the Islamic Society of Greater Portland” (Portland Muslim History Project, 24 August 2004)

[13] Armentrout, “Islamic Society of Greater Portland”

[14] Armentrout, “Islamic Society of Greater Portland”

[15] Grass, “Rizwan Mosque”

[16] Anne Marie Armentrout and Muntasir Sattar, “Profile written in 2004 of Masjid as-Saber” (Portland Muslim History Project, 23 August 2004)

[17] Armentrout and Sattar, “Masjid as-Saber”

[18] Miranda Meadow, “Profile written in 2004 of the Sufi Orders in Portland” (Portland Muslim History Project, 24 August 2004)

[19] Meadow, “Sufi Orders in Portland”

[20] Anne Marie Armentrout, “Bilal Mosque” (Portland Muslim History Project, pending review and submission, 22 August 2004)

[21] Armentrout, “Bilal Mosque”

[22] Armentrout, “Bilal Mosque” and Meadow, Miranda “Profile written in 2004 of the Islamic Center of Portland” (Portland Muslim History Project, 7 September 2004)

[23] Armentrout, “Islamic Society of Greater Portland” and Anne Marie Armentrout, “Profile written in 2004 of the Muslim Educational Trust” (Portland Muslim History Project, 23 August 2004)

[24] Armentrout, “Muslim Educational Trust”

[25] Lawrence Pintak, “Portland is the Most Livable City in America—Except if You’re Muslim” (Foreign Policy, 8 April 2016), and Armentrout and Sattar, “Masjid as-Saber”

[26] Pintak, “Portland is the Most Livable City in America”

[27] Pintak, “Portland is the Most Livable City in America”

[28] Armentrout and Sattar, “Masjid as-Saber”

[29] Laird, “Cultural Citizenship and Belonging”, p. 359-360

[30] Interview with Mohammad Haque conducted by Anne Marie Armentrout on 4 August 2004 at Bilal Masjid.

Bibliography and Works Cited

Research reports
These reports form an important part of the Portland Muslim History Project, directed by Dr. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri in the summer of 2004. The project was funded by the Harvard Pluralism Project and, in part, by the Office of the President of Reed College Colin Diver. The reports were compiled by several students working with Dr. GhaneaBassiri: Liath Armentrout, a religion major who later transferred to University of Cape Town, Jonathan Grass ‘05, an anthropology major, and Miranda Meadow ‘06, a religion major. The project was further assisted by Muntasir Sattar ‘02, a political science major, and Akbar Mumtaz ‘04, an economics major. For more information, navigate to: https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/home/

Armentrout, Anne Marie. “Bilal Mosque.” Portland Muslim History Project, pending review and submission, 22 August 2004.

Armentrout, Anne Marie. “Profile written in 2004 of the Islamic Society of Greater Portland”. Portland Muslim History Project, 24 August 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=e55a38e67580a7f6516e0614c6d2ae9ca1a416d8&p=2&pp=1

Armentrout, Anne Marie. “Profile written in 2004 of the Muslim Educational Trust”. Portland Muslim History Project, 23 August 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=9568e698306e89dfa6e8b0334b4e897830202e72&p=4&pp=1

Armentrout, Anne Marie; Sattar, Muntasir. “Profile written in 2004 of Masjid as-Saber”. Portland Muslim History Project, 23 August 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=bb1e4e7b24304b59fea0ae6830bfd58cea315621&p=1&pp=1

GhaneaBassiri, Kambiz. “Profile of Bosnian Cultural and Education Center”. Portland Muslim History Project, 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=2d87ec63c6667c773e3c1f30536368859b73441c&p=1&pp=1

Grass, Jonathan. “Profile written in 2004 of the Muslim Community Center”. Portland Muslim History Project, 3 September 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=33336e53ac7fbf1c1f8ff792416d397299e1a819&p=25&pp=1

Grass, Jonathan. “Profile written in 2004 of the Rizwan Mosque”. Portland Muslim History Project, 3 September 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=3137327f3be7d61f7472658e4920752ac11c3e05&p=6&pp=1

Meadow, Miranda. “Profile written in 2004 of the Islamic Center of Portland”. Portland Muslim History Project, 7 September 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=b1c1061b46e7f4e6fae5b0c083fd09058ec2922d&p=47&pp=1

Meadow, Miranda. “Profile written in 2004 of the Mevlevi Community”. Portland Muslim History Project, 28 August 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=9e480ab676bb6317a82d3080ed0af97111a7cbf3&p=2&pp=1

Meadow, Miranda. “Profile written in 2004 of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi/Sufi Prison Project”. Portland Muslim History Project, 28 August 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=9e480ab676bb6317a82d3080ed0af97111a7cbf3&p=1&pp=1

Meadow, Miranda. “Profile written in 2004 of the Shadhiliyya Order”. Portland Muslim History Project, 28 August 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=9e480ab676bb6317a82d3080ed0af97111a7cbf3&p=4&pp=1

Meadow, Miranda. “Profile written in 2004 of the Sufi Orders in Portland”. Portland Muslim History Project, 24 August 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=9e480ab676bb6317a82d3080ed0af97111a7cbf3&p=3&pp=1

Sattar, Muntasir. “Profile written in 2004 of the Islamic Center of Southwest Washington”. Portland Muslim History Project, 13 August 2004. https://rdc.reed.edu/c/pmhp/s/r?_pp=20&s=1bf0154b47e744cd27a15159534fff2ed3688b54&p=2&pp=1

Secondary Sources

Larid, Lance D.; Abu-Ras, Wahiba; Senzai, Farid. “Cultural Citizenship and Belonging: Muslim International Medical Graduates in the USA”. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 33:3 (2013), p. 356-370, DOI: 10.1080/13602004.2013.863075

Millis, H.A. “East Indian Immigration to British Columbia and the Pacific Coast States”. The American Economic Review, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Mar., 1911), pp. 72-76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1802908

Ogden, Johanna. “Ghadar, Historical Silences, and Notions of Belonging”. Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 113 no. 2 (2012), p. 164-197. https://www.ohs.org/research-and-library/oregon-historical-quarterly/upload/03_113_02_Ogden_Ghadar.pdf

Pintak, Lawrence. “Portland is the Most Livable City in America—Except if You’re Muslim”. Foreign Policy, 8 April 2016. https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/08/portland-is-the-most-livable-city-in-america-except-if-youre-muslim/

Schulz, Kathryn. “Citizen Khan: Behind a Muslim community in northern Wyoming lies one enterprising man—and countless tamales.” The New Yorker Magazine, 30 May 2016. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/06/zarif-khans-tamales-and-the-muslims-of-sheridan-wyoming

Shah, Nayan. Stranger Intimacy: Contesting Race, Sexuality, and Law in the North American West. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, University of California Press: 2011. Print.