Poster advertising a Last Poets performance, 1970s

Since its inception, in the spirit of Carter G. Woodson, Sapelo Square has commemorated Black History Month with daily Black Muslim History facts. This year, Sapelo Square is exploring the Muslim collection at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). During Black History Month, we will display a different object each day from the collection, showing how the objects help tell the rich histories of Muslims of African descent in the United States. View the entire series at our dedicated Black History Month 2021 page.

In 1977, the Dar-ul-Islam in Norfolk, Virginia, used this poster to promote a “Jama’at Community Bazaar” featuring a performance by the Last Poets. The Dar-ul-Islam Movement (known as “the Dar”) was a Black Sunni Muslim community founded in Brooklyn, New York in 1962. By the 1970s, the Dar had grown to include a federation of masjids around the country, united in their strong adherence to the Qur’an and Sunnah (traditions) of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. As this event poster indicates, the Dar also considered Black art and culture central to its community life.