Abdul Rahman Ibrahima ibn Sori ( ar, عبد الرحمن ابراهيم سوري; 1762—July 6, 1829) was a prince and
Amir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
(commander) from the
Fouta Djallon
Fouta Djallon ( ff, 𞤊𞤵𞥅𞤼𞤢 𞤔𞤢𞤤𞤮𞥅, Fuuta Jaloo; ar, فوتا جالون) is a Highland (geography), highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa.
Etymology
The Ful ...
region of
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
,
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
, who was captured and sold to
slave traders
The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions of en ...
and
transported
''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film.
Plot
In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...
to the United States in 1788. Upon discovering his lineage, his slave master Thomas Foster, began referring to him as "Prince", a title used for Abdul Rahman until his final days. After spending 40 years in slavery, he was freed in 1828 and returned to Africa the following year, but died in
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
within months of arrival.
Early life
Abdul Rahman Ibrahima was a
Torodbe
The Torodbe; singular Torodo (also called Turudiyya, Banu Toro, Takrur, Toronkawa) were Muslim clerics and theocratic monarchs who reigned in Futa Toro, a region located in the north of present-day Senegal, from the seventeenth to the early twenti ...
Fulani
The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
prince born in 1762, in
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
,
the son of
Ibrahima Sori and a
Moorish
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or se ...
wife. When he was aged five, his father removed the family from Timbuktu to
Timbo,
now located in
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
, and there in 1776 Ibrahima consolidated the
Islamic confederation of Fouta Djallon, with Timbo as its capital, eventually succeeding as its
Almami
Almami ( ar, المامي; Also: Almamy, Almaami) was the regnal title of Tukulor monarchs from the eighteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century. It is derived from the Arabic Al-Imam, meaning "the leader", and it has since ...
. Abdul Rahman studied in a madrasahs at
Djenné
Djenné ( Bambara: ߘߖߋߣߣߋ tr. Djenne; also known as Djénné, Jenné and Jenne) is a Songhai people town and an urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. The town is the administrative centre of the Djenné Cercle, on ...
and Timbuktu, speaking at least four African languages,
Bambara,
Fula
Fula may refer to:
*Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe)
*Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani)
**The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language
**The Fula variety known as the Pular language
**The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde
*Al-Fula ...
,
Mandinka Mandinka, Mandika, Mandinkha, Mandinko, or Mandingo may refer to:
Media
* ''Mandingo'' (novel), a bestselling novel published in 1957
* ''Mandingo'' (film), a 1975 film based on the eponymous 1957 novel
* ''Mandingo (play)'', a play by Jack Kir ...
and
Yalunka, in addition to Arabic. On returning to his homeland in 1781, he was became a member of his father's army, being made a regimental commander (''Amir''), for a campaign that conquered the
Bambara. In 1788 he was given command of 2000 cavalry troops for a campaign against the 'Hebohs',
who had been harassing the European ships that carried out the Fulani trade in war-captive slaves and the crops to sustain them during the
Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first ...
. Though he initially defeated the Hebohs, they later ambushed his cavalry in the mountains, and, refusing to flee, he was shot, captured and enslaved.
At the time of his capture, he was married, having had a son who in 1828 was serving as a military commander in Timbo.
Slavery
The captive Abdul Rahman was taken to the
Gambia River
The Gambia River (formerly known as the River Gambra) is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul. It is navigable f ...
and there sold onto the slave ship ''Africa'',
reportedly for "two bottles of rum, eight hands of tobacco, two flasks of powder, and a few muskets".
[ Trans-shipped via ]Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
to , he was then taken upriver to Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez ( ) is the county seat of and only city in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Natchez has a total population of 14,520 (as of the 2020 census). Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, N ...
, where he and another slave were sold to Thomas Foster for about $950. There, after an early abortive escape attempt, he labored for more than thirty-eight years before gaining his freedom. On Christmas Day, 1794, he married Isabella, another slave of Foster's, and eventually fathered a large family of nine children. Isabella would join the Baptist Church by 1797, and though Abdul Rahman regularly attended services with his family by 1818, he continued to have objections to those aspects of Christianity that contradicted the Islamic faith of his upbringing, and particularly the doctrine of the Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
, while also criticizing how Christianity was practiced in the context of American plantation slavery.
Being respected by the other slaves on the plantation, and viewed as loyal and trustworthy, he showed an aptitude for managing cattle and supervising other slaves in the growing of cotton, and due to this status he was allowed to walk to a local market at Washington, Mississippi
Washington is an unincorporated community in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Located along the lower Mississippi, east of Natchez, it was the second and longest-serving capital of the Mississippi Territory.
History
This area along t ...
, to sell vegetables. There in 1807, he was surprised to come across an old acquaintance, Dr. John Coates Cox. In the 1780s, Cox had been serving as a surgeon on an English ship along the West African coast when he becoming lost and then injured while ashore and was abandoned by his vessel. He was rescued and taken to Timbo as a curiosity, and there he healed, residing for six months in the household of Abdul Rahman's family, before being escourted back to the coast to find transport home. Decades later, he and Abdul Rahman met by chance at the Washington market, and the two recognized each other. Cox then offered to buy 'Prince' from Foster for $1000, so the man could return home to Africa, and Cox even recruited the governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of Mississippi to his cause. However, Foster would not sell, viewing Abdul Rahman as indispensable to the plantation, particularly due to his positive influence on the other slaves. The doctor continued to seek Abdul Rahman's freedom, to no avail, until his death in 1816, and his son William Rousseau Cox again offered to purchase and free the slave, but was likewise rebuffed.
In 1826, at the encouragement of local newspaperman, Andrew Marschalk, Abdul Rahman wrote a letter in Arabic to his family, and this letter was forwarded via United States Senator Thomas Reed to the U.S. Consulate in Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. The consul shared the letter with Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
Abderrahmane II, who asked that U. S. President John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...
and Secretary of State Henry Clay
Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, al ...
intervene for the release of Abdul Rahman in exchange for the freeing of several Americans illegally held in his country. Following this intervention, in 1828 Thomas Foster agreed to the release Abdul Rahman without payment, transferring the man to Marschalk and his wife, who then manumitted him, with the stipulation that he be sent to Africa by the government. Foster also allowed Marschalk to purchase and free Isabella at a discounted price of $200 raised from the citizens of Natchez. They traveled to Baltimore where he met Clay, and on May 15 he had an audience with President Adams, to whom he expressed his desire to see his five sons and eight grandchildren emancipated as well. He wrote a letter to his children in Mississippi describing the meeting.
Emigration
Before leaving the United States, Abdul Rahman and his wife went on a 10-month tour of various northern cities to solicit donations, through the press, personal appearances, the American Colonization Society
The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...
and politicians, to be used to free his family in Natchez. He often dressed in Moorish garb to give an Oriental impression that would separate himself, as a Moor, from the typical black African slaves, and presented himself in a manner that would appeal to his individual audiences, telling merchants he would establish new trade, promising missionaries that he would evangelize for them, and pledging support for their Liberia colony when speaking to the American Colonization Society.[ Among his noteworthy champions was the minister and pioneer of education for the deaf, Rev. ]Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (December 10, 1787 – September 10, 1851) was an American educator. Along with Laurent Clerc and Mason Cogswell, he co-founded the first permanent institution for the education of the deaf in North America, and he becam ...
.[ This highly publicized collaboration with abolitionists angered Forster and Marschalk, who considered it a breach of the agreement granting his freedom, and Marschalk published articles attacking both Abdul Rahman and President Adams during his bid for reelection against ]Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
.
Abdul Rahman and Isabella had raised only $4000 of the estimated $10,000 needed to free their children and grandchildren when they departed without their family from Norfolk, Virginia, February 9, 1829, on the ''Harriet''. This voyage of freemen bound for Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
was funded by the American Colonization Society. He wrote to America after his arrival, pushing for funding to free his children, reporting his plans to establish trade with his homeland, which he planned to visit, but also stating that he was "unwell, but much better." Though he had garnered support and transportation through the pretense of having fully adopted Christianity, he returned to the full practice of Islam "as soon as he got in sight" of Africa. He, along with 30 other ''Harriet'' passengers, died within months of their arrival amidst a yellow fever epidemic decimating the region, on July 6, 1829, aged about 67, never seeing Fouta Djallon or his children again.
Legacy
The funds that Abdul Rahman and Isabella raised only bought the freedom of two sons and their families. The eight progeny were reunited with Isabella in Monrovia the year after his death. Thomas Foster died the same year as Abdul Rahman. Foster's estate, including those children and grandchildren of Abdul Rahman who remained enslaved, was divided among his heirs.
In 2007, Andrea Kalin
Andrea Kalin is an American independent filmmaker, writer, producer, and director. She is also the principal and founder of Spark Media and founder and executive director of Stone Soup Productions, a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation.
Personal lif ...
directed ''Prince Among Slaves'', a film portraying the life of Abdul Rahman, based on an earlier biography of the same name by Terry Alford, narrated by Mos Def
Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...
and produced for and aired on PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
.
See also
* Islam in the United States
* List of slaves
Slavery is a social-economic system under which people are enslaved: deprived of personal freedom and forced to perform labor or services without compensation. These people are referred to as slaves, or as enslaved people.
The following is a ...
* Slavery in the United States
The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sl ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
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External links
Film Challenges Convention on Muslims, Africans, Slave-Era America
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori
1762 births
1829 deaths
African-American Muslims
Americo-Liberian people
18th-century American slaves
American Muslim slaves
American slaves literate in Arabic
American freedmen
American people of Fulbe descent
American people of Guinean descent
Military leaders
People from Mamou Region
People from Natchez, Mississippi
People from Timbuktu