Content Warning: This section references terrorism and racial and religious prejudice, including Islamophobia.

The events of September 11, 2001, and its aftermath were a watershed moment in American and world history. In this unprecedented attack on American soil, 19 al-Qaeda militants hijacked four commercial airplanes in a coordinated attack against the United States. Two planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing their collapse. A third plane struck the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US military in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane, intended to target a federal building in Washington, DC, crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after passengers revolted against the hijackers. Almost 3,000 individuals lost their lives in the attacks, leading to major domestic and foreign policy shifts, including initiatives to combat terrorism that would impact the United States and the world for decades to come.

The 9/11 attacks immediately triggered rising Islamophobia among the American populace. Studies conducted in the period following the attacks showed “low levels of awareness about basic elements of Islam but growing anxiety about Islam’s (especially Islamic fundamentalism’s) compatibility with Western values of tolerance, acceptance, and civility” (Panagopoulos, Costas. “Trends: Arab and Muslim Americans and Islam in the Aftermath of 9/11,” The Public Opinion Quarterly, vol.