Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua

Recife, Brazil

“Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua was born around 1824 in Djougou, Benin, to a prominent Muslim family. In his teen years, Baquaqua became a favored bodyguard to the chief of a neighboring town that was subordinate to Djougou. Because of his position, Baquaqua wrote, “I was…singled out as a fit object of vengeance by an envious class of my countrymen, decoyed away and sold into slavery.” As a slave, Baquaqua was sold southward from his home in Djougou to Dahomey, where he was sold to Portuguese slave dealers.

Baquaqua arrived in Brazil around 1845 and was initially enslaved by a baker in Recife. In 1847, he came under the ownership of Clemente Jose da Costa who was the captain and co-owner of the ship Lembranfa. In April 1847, the Lembranfa sailed to trade goods in New York.” http://slaveryandremembrance.org/

Resources

Law, Robin and Paul Lovejoy. The Biography of Mahmommah Gardo Baquaqua , His Passage from Slavery to Freedom in Africa and America. Markus Wiener, 2007.

“Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua.” Slavery and Remembrance.” http://slaveryandremembrance.org/ Accessed 10/10/2020.

https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/baquaqua/summary.html

Moore, Samuel. “A Biography of the Life of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/baquaqua/baquaqua.html Accessed 11/3/2020.