Folio written by the Former Slave Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori

New York, October 15th, 1828
Ink on paper
18 cm high, 20 cm wide
Stock no.: A5514

Provenance: Henry Inman, artist;
Presented to Robert Gilmor, Esq. in 1833;
Captain Dr Frank Lester Pleadwell (1872–1957), physician, author and editor of medical texts, bibliophile and collector (according to label);
The Pleadwell Collection, Honolulu.

Make an enquiry +44 (0)20 4572 6886

Folio written by the Former Slave Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori

--Select a country-- Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo (DRC) Cook Islands Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Islands Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern and Antarctic Lands Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libye Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau SAR Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka St. Helena St. Kitts And Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands Virgin Islands, British Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe

 

SEND

Success:

Email sent successfully

This shakily-written Arabic text was written by Abdulrahman Ibrahima Ibn Sori, a West African Muslim prince who was enslaved in America. His remarkable story, which was recorded contemporaneously by the abolitionist the Reverand Thomas Gallaudet (1787–1851), has inspired books and a film. According to Gallaudet, Ibrahima ibn Sori was born in Timbuktu in 1762, to the king of the Fula people. His father conquered the neighbouring Susu people, founding the city of Timbo. The family moved to Timbo, now in Guinea, where his father became the Almamy (leader) of the Fula people.¹

Ibrahima was highly educated. He was sent away to Timbuktu to further his studies at the age of 12. By this time, he had already read the Qur’an several times and copied it at least once.² Ibrahima spoke at least four local languages, in addition to his knowledge of Arabic and English, which he had learned from an American named John Coates Cox. In 1781, Cox, a surgeon on an English ship along the West African coast, had become separated from his crew whilst hunting on shore.³ He had fallen sick, possibly with malaria, and was taken in by the Fula people. He spent six months convalescing in the Sori household, and may even have married Ibrahima’s sister.⁴

In 1788, whilst at the head of his father’s army, Ibrahima was captured by an army described by Gallaudet as ‘Hebohs’, an as-yet-unidentified group of non-Muslim Africans. They sold Ibrahima and his soldiers to the Mande people, who, in turn, sold him to a slave-ship captain at the mouth of the Gambia. He was then transported to the West Indies, where he was sold to a plantation owner named Thomas Foster in Natchez, Mississippi.⁵

Remarkably, after 16 or 18 years of slavery, he had a chance encounter with Dr. John Coates Cox whilst at the market in Washington.⁶ Cox spent the remaining 20 years of his life campaigning for Ibrahima’s freedom, even offering to buy him from Foster. His son, William Cox, continued the campaign. He met with the newspaper editor Andrew Marschalk in the 1820s, whose articles drew the attention of the Secretary of State, Henry Clay. Clay petitioned Thomas Foster to free Ibrahima, and Foster agreed in 1827 or 1828, on the condition that Ibrahima leave the United States.⁷ In order to raise money to buy the freedom of his wife and children, Ibrahima toured northern cities, often dressed as a Muslim Prince. Ibrahima produced pages of writing in Arabic as gifts for prominent abolitionists on these occasions, including this page. The English inscription at the bottom of the page reads:

This was written in my presence, and at my request by "Abdul Rahhahman" with a reed pen. The history of this man's recovery of freedom was the subject of much interest at the time. An engraving was made of his head from a painting in watercolour by me. N. York. Oct 15th 1828. H. Inman. 

This page was written during a gathering of abolitionists at the Masonic Hall on Broadway, New York, arranged by the abolitionist Arthur Tappan.⁸ On this occasion, the young artist Henry Inman, sketched the only known portrait of Ibrahima, an event described in Terry Alford’s Prince Among Slaves.⁹ Though the original sketch is lost, an engraving of it was made by Thomas Illman for The Colonizationist and Journal of Freedom (Boston: G.W. Light, 1834), which is now held in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (accession no. 20136455555). 

Three other extant examples of Arabic texts written by Ibrahima are known, two in private collections¹⁰ and one in the Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana (view online here).¹¹ Of these, one, written 29th of December 1828 in Philadelphia, is identified in the English gloss as the Lord’s Prayer, while the other two are identified as Ibrahima’s autobiography. In fact, all three follow the format of a brief introduction followed by Quranic verses. These discrepancies may be due to the limits of Ibrahima’s vocabulary, having only been educated in Arabic through study of the Qur’an,¹² or indeed the almost 40 years of enslavement, where the only opportunity to write was tracing letters in the sand.¹³

With the support of the African Colonization Society, Ibrahima, alongside his wife, emigrated to Liberia, where freed slaves were being settled.¹⁴ They intended to travel onwards to settle in Guinea, but Ibrahima neither lived to see his homeland nor his children freed.¹⁵

[1] Austin, Allan D. African Muslims in Antebellum America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles. New York: Garland, 1984, p. 69. 
[2] Alford, Terry. Prince Among Slaves. Oxford: OUP, 1977, p. 6. 
[3] Dennis, Dawn. ‘Ibrahima, Abdul-Rahman‘, in The Mississippi Encyclopedia (July 2017), retrieved online via https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/abdul-rahman-ibrahima/ on 23.04.2025. 
[4] Arcin, André. Histoire de la Guinée Française. Paris : Augustin Challamel,1911, in Alford. Op. Cit., p. 18.
[5] Gallaudet, Thomas. A Statement with Regard to the Moorish Prince, Abduhl Rahhahman. New York: Daniel Fanshaw, 1828, p. 4. 
[6] Ibid., p. 4. 
[7] ‘Fraser-Rahim, Muhammad. ‘Enslaved and Freed African Muslims: Spiritual Wayfarers in the South and Lowcountry’, Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (2018). Retrieved online via https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/african-muslims-in-the-south on 22.04.2025. 
[8] Alford. Op. Cit., p. 161. 
[9] Ibid., p. 162. 
[10] See Bouzan, Ruba. ‘African Muslim Slaves: Literacy and Arabic Narratives’ [MA thesis], Rhode Island College, 2021. pp. 36 and 41. 
[11] ‘Manuscript. Arabic writing of Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima’, American Slavery Manuscript Collection, Hesburgh Libraries. Retrieved online via https://marble.nd.edu/item/aspace_8e3ba736a4173c8e90a394e46d3bee44 on 16.01.2026.
[12] Bouzan, Op. Cit., p. 40. 
[13] Alford, Op. Cit., p. 57.
[14] Guyatt, Nicholas. ‘The American Colonization Society’, African American Intellectual History Society (2016), retrieved online via https://www.aaihs.org/the-american-colonization-society-200-years-of-the-colonizing-trick/ on 22.04.2025. 
[15] ‘The African Homeland of Abdul Rahman Ibrahim’, National Humanities Center Resource Toolbox. Retrieved online via https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/freedom/text1/ibrahima.pdf retrieved online on 10.04.2025.