By Terry Alford, Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College.

30th Anniversary Edition

Terry Alford tells the story of Abd al Rahman Ibrahima, a Muslim slave, who, in 1807, was recognized by an Irish ship's surgeon as the son of an African King who had saved his life many years earlier. "The Prince," as he had become known to local Natchez, Mississippi, residents, had been captured in war when he was twenty-six years old, sold to slave traders, and shipped to America. Slave though he was, Ibrahima was an educated, aristocratic man, and he was made overseer of the large cotton and tobacco plantation of his master, who refused to sell him to the doctor for any price. After years of petitioning by Dr. Cox and others, Ibrahima finally gained his freedom in 1828 through the intercession of U.S. Secretary of State Henry Clay. Sixty-six years old, Ibrahima sailed for Africa the following year, with his wife, and died there of fever just five months after his return.

This edition marks the thirtieth anniversary of the publication, the only full account of Ibrahima's life, pieced together from first-person accounts and historical documents gathered on three continents. It is not only a remarkable story but also the story of a remarkable man, who endured the humiliation of slavery without ever losing his dignity or his hope for freedom. This new eidition has been updated to include material discovered since the original printing, a fuller presentation and appreciation of African Muslims in American slavery, and a review of new and important literature and developments in the field.