Seeing Black America in Iran.

This article examines how Iranian understandings of race from the 1960s onward were heavily shaped by Black American protests and figures during the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, particularly the idealization of Black American Muslims like Malcolm X. It argues that this US-centric focus contributed to the erasure of Black Iranians and Iran’s own histories of enslavement and racism, as Iranian intellectuals, revolutionaries, and media displaced domestic racial narratives with those centered on the United States. The Islamic Republic of Iran, after the 1979 revolution, continued to emphasize American racism in its official discourse and foreign policy, using Black American symbols to position itself as a champion of racial justice while neglecting racial inequalities within Iran. The article also highlights the assassination of Iranian opposition figure ʿAli Akbar Tabatabaʾi by Dawud Salahuddin, a Black American Muslim recruited by Iran, as emblematic of this complex racial and political dynamic.