Share a Story

Your story belongs here.

Most of what a person lives through is never written down. It is carried in memory. When that person is gone, it goes with them.

We are recording those lived experiences while we can.

Who We Are Asking

Muslim Americans from every generation, every culture, every walk of life.

We are asking you to share your lived experience with us — not a summary, not an interview about being Muslim in America, but how you have actually lived.

We come from different places, traditions, and histories, and together we are part of the American story.

You do not need to be famous or have a remarkable story. You do not need documents, dates, or a prepared speech. You do not need to speak English. You do not need to be an elder.

We simply want to hear how you have lived, loved, worked, struggled, celebrated, contributed, and made a life in America.

When these lives are preserved, they take their rightful place in the American record.

Three Ways In

Where to start.

01 Share your lived experience

Sit with a trained facilitator and talk about where you come from, what you built and survived, what it has meant to you, and what you want the next generation to know.

02 Name someone

Most people do not think their own life is worth recording. Someone else usually knows better. If there is an elder, a friend, a neighbor, a colleague, a family member, your hero, your mentor, your parents, your siblings, your teacher, your doctor, or anyone else whose experience should not be lost — tell us about them.

03 Bring a gathering to your community

Bring together people whose lived experiences should be recorded. Fund a day, organize one, or offer a space — we bring the rest.

Learn more
What You Keep

You decide everything after the recording stops.

Four decisions stay with you, and none of them are ours to make.

Whether to record at all.

Nothing is recorded until you have understood what will happen and agreed to it. You can pause at any point, or stop, including after you have started.

What is preserved.

You decide use by use — who may hear it, whether it may be shown publicly, whether researchers may access it. Permission for one thing never implies permission for another.

What can change.

Any permission can be changed or withdrawn at any time, in writing, effective when we receive it.

What happens afterward.

Your permissions do not expire when you do. You may name a Story Steward to speak for your story — someone who can refuse a use you allowed, but who can never open one you did not.

We will never change your words, recreate your voice or face, sell your story, or use it to train an AI model. These are not settings. They are constraints the work is built to hold.

How your story is protected

Start with one.

One conversation, an hour or more, and something that would have disappeared is held instead. That is the whole method. It begins when someone tells us who to ask.

Support this work