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| Portrait by Henry Inman, 1828 Colonization and Journal of Freedom (1834), frontispiece, Wikimedia commons) |
Colonization and Journal of Freedom |
Location: Natchez, Mississippi
Photo: Artist, Henry Inman, 1828. From the Colonization and Journal of Freedom (1834), frontispiece, Wikimedia commons)
(1762 – 1829)
“Prince Abduhl Rahhahman is a native of Tombuctoo. His grandfather was King of that city, and the extensive territory bearing the same name. Prince’s father, when a young man, was sent to conquer the Soosoos, a nation living twelve or fifteen hundred miles from Tombuctoo. He succeeded, and established a new kingdom, called Footah Jalloh, and founded its capital, Teembo, a city now containing a very numerous population. He went back and forth, several times, from Teembo to Tombuctoo, from which place he finally removed his family, Prince being then about five years of age, to his newly acquired territory. At twelve years of age Prince was sent to Tombuctoo, to obtain an education, being the rightful heir to the throne, in preference to an elder brother, whose mother was a Soosoo, while Prince’s was a Moor. While at Tombuctoo, his grandfather, very far advanced in life, resigned his throne to his son, an uncle of Prince. The family seems to have been a very powerful one; for the King of Jimbala, the Governors of Jennah, Massina, and Bambougo, were either Prince’s uncles or cousins.–They were Mahometans, and the cities and territories over which they ruled, had advanced to a very considerable degree of civilization” (A Statement with Regard to the Moorish Prince, Abduhl Rahhahman, 1828 Documenting the South.)
The DVD “Prince Among Slaves recounts the true story of an African Muslim prince who was captured and sold into slavery in the American South [Natchez Mississippi]. After 40 years of enslavement, he finally regained his freedom, became a national celebrity, and dined in the White House. This is an incredible story about an incredible man who endured the humiliation of slavery without ever losing his dignity or his hope for freedom….” Prince Among Slaves
Resources
Prince Among Slaves. DVD Unity Productions, 2011.
Alford, Terry, Prince Among Slaves, 30th Anniversary Ed., New York: Oxford UP, 2007.
Austin, Allan D., African Muslims in Antebellum America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles, New York: Routledge, 1997.
Dreyer, David. The Descendants of Prince Abdul Rahman of Futa Jallon. 2007 upf.tv Accessed 10/6/2020.
“Facsimile of the Moorish Prince’s Writing”, Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora, accessed December 6, 2019, http://slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/2688
“40 Years a Slave: The Extraordinary Tale of an African Prince Stolen from His Kingdom.” History.com Accessed 12/4/19.
“From African Prince to Mississippi Slave: Abdul Rahman Ibrahima.” Electronic Edition. Documenting the American South. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Accessed 12/4/19.
Gallaudet, T.H. “A Statement with Regard to the Moorish Prince. Abduhl Rahhahman.” Printed by Daniel Fanshaw 1828. Documenting the American South. https://docsouth.unc.edu/ Accessed 10/6/2020.
“Abdul Rahhahman.” The Colonizationist and Journal of Freedom. Apr. 1833-Apr. 1834. Boston: G. W. Light, 1834. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100734037 Accessed 10/22/2020
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