Alexander Russell Webb
Background
Muhammed Alexander Russell Webb was among the first Anglo-american converts to Islam. He was born in 1846 in Hudson, York to Alexander Nelson Webb who was a leading journalist of his time. He was a journalist by profession and edited two publications. During his time of working for Missouri Republican he was appointed as the Counsel General of Philippines by President Cleveland, at the age of 41. By this time he was doing study of various religions.
He got introduced to Islam and had some correspondence with Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from India. In 1888, while in Philippines he converted to Islam.
ImpactÂ
After conversion he traveled across India, Egypt and Turkey before resigning from his post in State Department and returning to US in 1893. He setup one of the first mosques in USA in New York as well as the American Muslim Press. He represented Islam in the Parliament of World Religions in 1893. From then, till his death in 1916 he became the main spokesman of Islam in America.
There is a book written on him by Umar Abdullah which gives more details on his life and impact.