He was told college was a waste of time. He answered in six languages.
Some immigration stories start with a plane ticket. Henry Hane’s starts in a Senegalese town built by strangers from everywhere, a rice growing project where his family’s household doubled as the school of faith for the whole community, and where a boy learned early that knowledge opens doors that money and connections keep shut.
Immigration stories in America often get flattened into a single arrival scene. This conversation restores the whole route: the colonial classroom where speaking your own language earned a sign of shame, the university that left a top student off the admissions list, the contest where he outcompeted 500 candidates for a spot nobody could take away, and the immigrant identity and belonging he built in Cincinnati without abandoning any part of himself.
Henry Hane is the Executive Director of the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, one of the region’s most established and visible Muslim institutions, and a leading voice in Cincinnati’s African diaspora community. He speaks Fula, French, Wolof, and English, reads Arabic and Spanish, and has moved through corporate work, Islamic school leadership, and graduate research at IUPUI. He also serves the Fulbe community internationally through Tabitha Pulaku Americas and as Secretary General of the Nanka movement’s United States chapter.
Key Takeaways
- Mastery comes before advancement: in Henry’s childhood education, students mastered the full text of the Quran before any other subject was opened to them.
- Colonial schooling punished children for speaking their own languages, and reclaiming those languages became a lifelong act of identity.
- Merit alone was not enough at home, so Henry made his path to America undeniable by taking first place against 500 competitors.
- Faith without action is incomplete, which is why the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati pairs worship with social services designed to move people toward independence, not dependence.
- Young immigrants do not have to choose between identities, they can mix them into one they can live by.
- Henry said, “Because if you don’t know who you are, you cannot really achieve anything until you know who you are.”
- Henry said, “But faith without action is not complete.”
Timestamps
0:00 Welcome and series intro
1:43 Living more than one identity at the same time
4:17 Growing up in a town built by many cultures
9:10 Inside the madrasa, mastery before advancement
13:16 Six languages and the colonial classroom
18:20 Choosing English literature and a professor’s challenge
24:56 How America got on the radar
30:04 Milwaukee to Indianapolis
36:14 Two full time roles and STEM outreach
39:16 Leading the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati
49:28 Reclaiming the name Fulbe
56:42 Advice for young immigrants navigating identity
1:04:40 Closing gratitude
Connect with Henry Hane
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/henryamehane/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/henry.pullo
