Oral History Interview with Firoza Akter: Muslims in Brooklyn oral histories: NYU Special Collections Finding Aids

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Mst. Firoza Akter discusses her family, her childhood in Bangladesh, and moving to Dhaka to pursue higher education as a teenager. She expands on her marriage to her husband, her immigration to the United States, and raising their children in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. She speaks at length about her involvement in East New York's Bangladeshi community and her work with the faith-based community organization Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA). She also talks about Bengali cultural traditions; her Muslim faith; gender roles within East New York's Muslim communities; and her experiences with Sharmin Hoque (interviewed for this collection on December 21, 2018) and her family. Interview conducted by Liz H. Strong.

Biographical / Historical

Mst. Firoza Akter was born in 1981 in Bangladesh. She moved to Dhaka as a teenager to pursue higher education and married in 2002. She immigrated to the United States to join her husband shortly after the birth of their first child in 2005. They settled in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, where she became involved in both Baitul Mamur Masjid and Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA). With MUNA, she worked to engage youth in their community's cultural and religious traditions; plan community events; and provide social and material assistance to people in need.

Conditions Governing Access

This interview can be accessed onsite at the Center for Brooklyn History's Othmer Library and online at the Oral History Portal.

Subjects

Topics

Places

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); Dhaka (Bangladesh); East New York (New York, N.Y.)