Remembering Prince Ibrahima
The unprecedented ceremony, organized by the Natchez Historical Society, will take place on October 24th and feature the installation of a historical marker, a celebration of life, and remarks from Michael Morris, Director of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
According to the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, "Ibrahima Abdur Rahman was born into a royal family in the Futa Jallon region, present-day Guinea. Educated in several centers of Islamic intellectual learning, including Timbuktu, Rahman learned to read and converse in Arabic, and came to speak at least three other languages – Bambara, Mandingo, and Jallonke. Not a first-born son, however, Rahman was then sent by his father for training in military leadership. During battle, around the age of twenty-four, Rahman was captured and sold into slavery. Traders in the trans-Atlantic slave trade took him first to the Caribbean and then to New Orleans, where he was sold to a slaveholder in Mississippi.
Rahman spent the next forty years on a cotton plantation in Natchez, Mississippi. In his early years of enslavement, Rahman’s overt statement of resistance was made by fleeing into the woods for several weeks, an act that many slaveholders responded to with violence upon the enslaved person’s return. It was also not uncommon for enslaved people to runaway temporarily, hiding out for weeks or months until ..." You can learn more about his life HERE.
From Roscoe Barnes of The Mississippi Monitor |
"The marker will be the first in the Natchez-Adams County area that pays tribute to Ibrahima. It was acquired through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Karen Hill, past president of the society, said she is grateful to the Natchez Historical Society for agreeing to fund the marker and host the dedication ceremony. She said, “The story of Prince Ibrahima is an important part of Natchez-Adams County history that should not only be commemorated, but also preserved for our community, visitors, and future generations. His story has been told in books, films, and articles. Now a part of his story will be told through this historical marker.”
Per Barnes, the dedication ceremony will also feature remarks by Warren Gaines, District 5 Supervisor of Adams County; Dr. Artemus Gaye, seventh generation descendant of Prince Ibrahima; David Dreyer, local historian and genealogist; and Dr. Roscoe Barnes III, cultural heritage tourism manager at Visit Natchez and president of the Mississippi Historical Society.
John Mott Coffey
