International Museum of Muslim Cultures
The International Museum of Muslim Cultures is "America’s First Muslim Museum". It was established in April 2001, in Jackson, Mississippi in what is now the Arts Center of Mississippi.
The museum was co-founded by Emad Al-Turk and Okolo Rashid in response to the Majesty of Spain exhibition, which arrived in Jackson, Mississippi in 2000, as a landmark cultural event that transformed the state’s arts landscape. Presented at the Mississippi Arts Pavilion, the blockbuster exhibition showcased more than 600 years of Spanish history, art, and royal heritage through rare artifacts, paintings, tapestries, manuscripts, and regal treasures from Spain’s Royal Palace and national collections. However, the exhibition failed to include any representation of the Muslim-ruled Andalusian era, which spanned 781 years of Spain’s history.
A group of local Muslims decided to create their own exhibition called Moorish Spain: Its Legacy to Europe and the West featuring the great contributions of Muslims to the world. What was intended as a temporary exhibition became a permanent museum.