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Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP)

BAAHP Undergraduate Assistant, Toni Akinbamowo

Analytical Essay: Kujegi Camara

INTERVIEW LINK: https://research.library.fordham.edu/baahp_oralhist/373/

Disciplines

Black History | Oral History | Public History

Abstract

Kujegi Camara is Gambian, Muslim, and American. She was raised in the Bronx, in neighborhoods, madrasas (Arabic, school for Islamic education) and masjids (Arabic, mosque) rooted deeply in Senegambian (a region encompassing Senegal, Gambia, and neighboring countries) culture and community. Kujegi was raised by a stay-at-home mother and a father who worked in construction. The oldest of nine children, she spent her childhood taking care of her siblings and doing housework, but her parents always emphasized and prioritized her education. Her adolescence and early adulthood were marred, but not tainted, by experiences of Islamophobia in school. After 9/11, fear and uncertainty led her to question the actions of members of her faith in ways that she continues to do now in her community, aiming to uplift Gambian Muslim women and carve out a space for them in education. In interrogating her identity, Kujegi must reconcile being a Black West African Muslim woman and what all of these labels mean to her and the world at large.

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