A Prince Enslaved in Southwest Mississippi: The Story of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima (1762-1829)
Introduction
Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahima (1762-1829) was from Futa Jallon in today’s Republic of Guinea in Africa. He was captured during war, brought to America, and sold to Thomas Foster, who enslaved him for forty years near Natchez. Through complex negotiations, he and his wife Isabella were freed in 1828 and departed from this site. He never reached his homeland, dying in 1829 of disease in Liberia, where he had landed. Ibrahima became known as the “Prince Among Slaves.” Descendants remain in the U.S. and Liberia.