BAAHP: A Forum on Young African Immigrant Voices in the Bronx

As part of their African immigration research activities this academic year, the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP) of Fordham University is planning a forum that aims to understand young African immigrants’ perspectives about life in the Bronx. Particular emphasis will be paid to their public school, college, and university experiences, as well as their engagement with existing social, educational, religious, and local government institutions in the borough.

Featured Speakers:

Farida Ahmed is a Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) student. A junior at Fordham University, he is majoring in biology and is on the pre-health track. As an Arabic student at Yankasa Association, Farida helps in developing youth programs, including art in the mosque.

Jannah Firdaus Ali was born in Ghana, where she was a member of the Girls Guide Club and the Ghana United Nations Students Association; she was also the public relations officer for Ghana Muslim Students Association, all of which led her to attend conferences, seminars, debates, and quiz shows across Ghana. She also played an instrumental role in organizing youth camps and excursions for high schoolers.

Mamunatu Abdulrahman is currently a student at Yankasa Association’s Arabic School, and is enrolled in the U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC). She is staff five commander with a rank of second lieutenant, and she in charge of public affairs.

Maryam Mohammed is a community development and government relations professional with more than eight years of experience in organizing immigrant communities around issues affecting them. She also runs an online community space called Suna Na Sarauniya (which means “my name is Queen” in Hausa), a celebratory and advocacy space for women of color to discuss their issues and identify tenable solutions.

Mariam Agbelusi has worked as the project manager in charge of women’s affairs at the Federation of Informal Workers Organization of Nigeria (FIWON) as well as at the Domestic and Allied Workers Union. Mariam is now the welfare secretary of the African Muslim Youth Inc. USA, where she previously served as general secretary. She is an entrepreneur who hopes to grow a multinational business corporation in the near future.

Ahmed Tijay Mohammed was born in Ghana and now lives and works in the U.S. He is the recipient of several grants and awards for artists. His multimedia art suggests greater relationship to our diaries, aspirations, letdowns, and contemporary lives in addressing migration, racial, and gender issues. His works have been exhibited in locations around the world, including the Longwood Art Gallery in New York, Lincoln Medical Center in New York, the National Museum of Ghana, and Ravel D’Art in the Ivory Coast.

Mouhamed Kaba is a Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipient and a proud Muslim New Yorker. Mouhamed currently works as a research and policy associate at the Center for Institutional and Social Change (CISC) at Columbia University Law School, where he focuses on an initiative that supports the non-academic barriers and needs facing students in the Bronx, particularly those facing justice-involved students, immigrants, youth, and veterans.