Prince Among Slaves (film)
Encyclopedia
Prince Among Slaves is a historical documentary directed, written and produced by Andrea Kalin
and narrated by Mos Def
made for PBS
by Unity Productions Foundation. The film, made in association with Spark Media
and Duke Media
, retells the story of Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori
, a prince from West Africa who was made a slave in the United States and freed 40 years later.
history professor Terry Alford, Prince Among Slaves chronicles Abdul-Rahman’s true life African-Muslim-prince-turned-American-slave drama cycle with historic and scholastic commentary along the way.
The story begins with prince's capture at age 26 during a military campaign against non-Muslims in Guinea
in 1788, and follows his sale to British
slave traders, transport to America on the slave ship Africa
to New Orleans, arrival into bondage at Thomas Foster’s tobacco plantation in Natchez, Mississippi
, the ensuing 40 years of enslavement and his eventual liberation.
The unlikely story of his liberation began with a chance meeting with Dr. John Cox, who Abdul-Rahman’s father helped in Africa. Cox offered to buy Abdul-Rahman from Foster, but he refused. Two decades later Cox’s son William enlisted the help of local newspaper editor Andrew Marschalk to Abdul-Rahman’s cause. Articles written by Marschalk caught the attention of then Secretary of State Henry Clay
, who convinced President John Quincy Adams
to free Abdul-Rahman. The liberated prince immediately purchased the freedom of his wife Isabella for $200, and remained in America for a year campaigning to free his nine children still enslaved on Foster’s cotton plantation. He toured the northern cities, petitioning abolitionist groups and politicians for the money necessary to buy his family’s freedom. He succeeded in raising only enough money for two of his children and their families who joined Isabella in Liberia
. The prince returned to Africa, but died before reaching his kingdom in Futa Jallon. The film ends with Prince's living descendants from both sides of the Atlantic reunited for the first time at the fateful plantation in Natchez, with family members reacting to the discovery of their shared royal and slave heritage after nearly 200 years of disconnection.
, one of Unity Productions Foundation’s executive producers, the story brought up a question about the plight of slaves completely disconnected from their native cultures. “In times of great tension and stress, people seek out their religious connections. But what was the spiritual life of the enslaved Africans? We don’t know much about that.”
That Abdul-Rahman had a religion, and was a Muslim, and a prince all at once, upsets many stereotypes, according to Director Andrea Kalin
, whose films generally focus on bridging communication gaps between cultures. “Many people don’t realize that up to 30 percent of slaves that came to America were Muslim. That didn’t last past the first generation, but their customs are still evident in blues and some of the South’s food.”
“It’s a universal story.” Kronemer said. “It’s paradise lost. We all wonder what would happen if we lost it all. Here’s a story about someone who lost an entire empire and emerged intact.” At the time of his capture in 1788, Abdul-Rahman commanded an army bigger than George Washington
’s in a country larger than the 13 original U.S. states.
It was Abdul-Rahman's extraordinary status that makes the story exemplify the ordinary in the experience of slavery, according to Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
. “His education and his brief fame make it a bit easier to tell his story, to know the sequence of certain events, the thoughts in his mind. But every one of the 16 million Africans abducted and sold had a similar story. Every African had a family left behind, a job, a past, a world in which he or she belonged. Every slave had to come to their own terms of submission or die.”
Marcus Mitchell — Abdul Rahman; Bruce Holmes – Thomas Foster; John C. Bailey – Andrew Marschalk; Dawn Ursula – Isabella; Andrew Honeycutt – Samba; Wilson White – Dr. John Coates Cox; Theodore M. Snead – David Walker; Ian Coblyn – Young Abdul Rahman; Isaiah Johnson – Middle Passage
Dramatic Readings Cast
Robert G. McKay – Abdul Rahman;
Randahl Lindgren – John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay;
John C. Bailey – Andrew Marschalk, Major Steve Power;
Casey Kaleba – Alexander Falconbridge, John Newton;
Javier Sierra, David E. Elvove, Robin Coblyn, Julius Gwyer – Northern Tour
Commentators
Terry Alford
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Bebe Moore Campbell
Sylviane A. Diouf
David S. Dreyer
Artemus Gaye
Michael Gomez
Adam Hochschild
Zaid Shakir
, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
, the El Hibri Charitable Foundation and many individual contributors.
in Los Angeles, as well as multiple others including Gold at the World Media Film Festival, TIVA DC Peer Awards, Cine Golden Eagle, Grand Goldie and a Bronze Telly Award.
With support from organizations such as the Urban League, National Black Arts Festival, NAACP Chapters, Howard University, and Americans for Informed Democracy, these screenings brought together civic leaders committed to supporting the arts, civil rights and cultural diversity.
Today the film is used in thousands of communities, schools, universities, religious congregations, and civic organizations throughout the United States to increase Americans' understanding of the cultural legacy of enslaved Africans, Muslims in early America, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and American Identity today. Guides to facilitate discussions of the film's themes are available through the Prince Among Slaves project and the 20,000 Dialogues project.
With a second major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the DVD of the film was re-issued in 2011 to include the dialogue guide for communities and lesson plans for teachers to use the film in the classroom, and an educational website about the cultural legacy of enslaved Africans.
Andrea Kalin
Andrea Kalin is an independent American filmmaker . She is also the principal and founder of Spark Media, Inc. and founder and Executive Director of Stone Soup Productions, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit foundation-Personal life:...
and narrated by Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
made for PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
by Unity Productions Foundation. The film, made in association with Spark Media
Spark Media
Spark Media is an independent multi-media and documentary production house based in Washington D.C.-History:Established in 1989 by director and producer Andrea Kalin, the non-profit company specializes in creating socially-conscious media used to raise public awareness in America and throughout the...
and Duke Media
Bill Duke
William Henry "Bill" Duke, Jr. is an American actor and film director with over 30 years of experience. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke's work frequently dwells within the action/crime and drama genres but also includes comedy.-Early life:Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the...
, retells the story of Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori
Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori
Abdu-l-Rahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori was a prince from West Africa who was made a slave in the United States. In 1828, he was freed after spending 40 years in slavery by the order of President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay after the Sultan of Morocco requested his release.-Life:He...
, a prince from West Africa who was made a slave in the United States and freed 40 years later.
Summary
Based on a biography by Northern Virginia Community CollegeNorthern Virginia Community College
Northern Virginia Community College, often abbreviated NVCC and colloquially as NOVA, comprises several locations in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and is both the second largest multi-campus community college in the United States and the largest educational institution in the...
history professor Terry Alford, Prince Among Slaves chronicles Abdul-Rahman’s true life African-Muslim-prince-turned-American-slave drama cycle with historic and scholastic commentary along the way.
The story begins with prince's capture at age 26 during a military campaign against non-Muslims in Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
in 1788, and follows his sale to British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
slave traders, transport to America on the slave ship Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
to New Orleans, arrival into bondage at Thomas Foster’s tobacco plantation in Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...
, the ensuing 40 years of enslavement and his eventual liberation.
The unlikely story of his liberation began with a chance meeting with Dr. John Cox, who Abdul-Rahman’s father helped in Africa. Cox offered to buy Abdul-Rahman from Foster, but he refused. Two decades later Cox’s son William enlisted the help of local newspaper editor Andrew Marschalk to Abdul-Rahman’s cause. Articles written by Marschalk caught the attention of then Secretary of State Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, who convinced President John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
to free Abdul-Rahman. The liberated prince immediately purchased the freedom of his wife Isabella for $200, and remained in America for a year campaigning to free his nine children still enslaved on Foster’s cotton plantation. He toured the northern cities, petitioning abolitionist groups and politicians for the money necessary to buy his family’s freedom. He succeeded in raising only enough money for two of his children and their families who joined Isabella in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
. The prince returned to Africa, but died before reaching his kingdom in Futa Jallon. The film ends with Prince's living descendants from both sides of the Atlantic reunited for the first time at the fateful plantation in Natchez, with family members reacting to the discovery of their shared royal and slave heritage after nearly 200 years of disconnection.
Background
The producers were drawn to the project during the spiritual turmoil that followed September 11. According to Alex KronemerAlex Kronemer
Alexander Kronemer the co-executive producer of Unity Productions Foundation. He is also a writer, lecturer and documentary producer focusing on religious diversity, Islam and cross-cultural understanding....
, one of Unity Productions Foundation’s executive producers, the story brought up a question about the plight of slaves completely disconnected from their native cultures. “In times of great tension and stress, people seek out their religious connections. But what was the spiritual life of the enslaved Africans? We don’t know much about that.”
That Abdul-Rahman had a religion, and was a Muslim, and a prince all at once, upsets many stereotypes, according to Director Andrea Kalin
Andrea Kalin
Andrea Kalin is an independent American filmmaker . She is also the principal and founder of Spark Media, Inc. and founder and Executive Director of Stone Soup Productions, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit foundation-Personal life:...
, whose films generally focus on bridging communication gaps between cultures. “Many people don’t realize that up to 30 percent of slaves that came to America were Muslim. That didn’t last past the first generation, but their customs are still evident in blues and some of the South’s food.”
“It’s a universal story.” Kronemer said. “It’s paradise lost. We all wonder what would happen if we lost it all. Here’s a story about someone who lost an entire empire and emerged intact.” At the time of his capture in 1788, Abdul-Rahman commanded an army bigger than George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
’s in a country larger than the 13 original U.S. states.
It was Abdul-Rahman's extraordinary status that makes the story exemplify the ordinary in the experience of slavery, according to Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. “His education and his brief fame make it a bit easier to tell his story, to know the sequence of certain events, the thoughts in his mind. But every one of the 16 million Africans abducted and sold had a similar story. Every African had a family left behind, a job, a past, a world in which he or she belonged. Every slave had to come to their own terms of submission or die.”
Appearances
CastMarcus Mitchell — Abdul Rahman; Bruce Holmes – Thomas Foster; John C. Bailey – Andrew Marschalk; Dawn Ursula – Isabella; Andrew Honeycutt – Samba; Wilson White – Dr. John Coates Cox; Theodore M. Snead – David Walker; Ian Coblyn – Young Abdul Rahman; Isaiah Johnson – Middle Passage
Dramatic Readings Cast
Robert G. McKay – Abdul Rahman;
Randahl Lindgren – John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay;
John C. Bailey – Andrew Marschalk, Major Steve Power;
Casey Kaleba – Alexander Falconbridge, John Newton;
Javier Sierra, David E. Elvove, Robin Coblyn, Julius Gwyer – Northern Tour
Commentators
Terry Alford
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Kwame Anthony Appiah is a Ghanaian-British-American philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Kwame Anthony Appiah grew up in Ghana and earned a Ph.D. at Cambridge...
Bebe Moore Campbell
Bebe Moore Campbell
Bebe Moore Campbell , was the author of three New York Times bestsellers, Brothers and Sisters, Singing in the Comeback Choir, and What You Owe Me, which was also a Los Angeles Times "Best Book of 2001"...
Sylviane A. Diouf
David S. Dreyer
Artemus Gaye
Michael Gomez
Michael Gomez
Michael Gomez , also known as "The Irish Mexican" or "The Predator", is a former professional boxer...
Adam Hochschild
Adam Hochschild
Adam Hochschild is an American author and journalist.-Biography:Hochschild was born in New York City. As a college student, he spent a summer working on an anti-government newspaper in South Africa and subsequently worked briefly as a civil rights worker in Mississippi in 1964...
Zaid Shakir
Zaid Shakir
Zaid Salim Shakir is a prominent American Islamic scholar and writer who is a co-founder, , and faculty member, of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States, where he teaches courses on Arabic, Law, History, and Islamic Spirituality...
Funding
Prince Among Slaves is a presentation of the National Black Programming Consortium. Major funding for Prince Among Slaves was provided by the National Endowment for the HumanitiesNational Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
, the El Hibri Charitable Foundation and many individual contributors.
Awards
The film won the Best Documentary Award at the 2007 American Black Film FestivalAmerican Black Film Festival
The American Black Film Festival is an independent film festival that focuses primarily on works by Black members of the film industry. It has been called “the nation’s most prominent film festival.” The festival is held annually and features full-length narratives, short films, mobile...
in Los Angeles, as well as multiple others including Gold at the World Media Film Festival, TIVA DC Peer Awards, Cine Golden Eagle, Grand Goldie and a Bronze Telly Award.
Broadcast
With a national broadcast on PBS, the film led off the network’s Black History Month’s programming in February 2008. Since then it has been re-broadcast on many local PBS affiliates.Community
Unity Productions Foundation has coordinated screenings in over 50 major U.S. cities in such diverse locations as the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, North Carolina; the Fellowship Chapel in Detroit, Michigan; the Islamic Inmates Corrections Association of America, Tucson, Arizona; the Natchez Wilkinson Public Library, Natchez, Mississippi; the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts in Atlanta, Georgia; and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cinncinnati, OH.With support from organizations such as the Urban League, National Black Arts Festival, NAACP Chapters, Howard University, and Americans for Informed Democracy, these screenings brought together civic leaders committed to supporting the arts, civil rights and cultural diversity.
Today the film is used in thousands of communities, schools, universities, religious congregations, and civic organizations throughout the United States to increase Americans' understanding of the cultural legacy of enslaved Africans, Muslims in early America, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and American Identity today. Guides to facilitate discussions of the film's themes are available through the Prince Among Slaves project and the 20,000 Dialogues project.
With a second major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the DVD of the film was re-issued in 2011 to include the dialogue guide for communities and lesson plans for teachers to use the film in the classroom, and an educational website about the cultural legacy of enslaved Africans.
See also
- Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn SoriAbdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn SoriAbdu-l-Rahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori was a prince from West Africa who was made a slave in the United States. In 1828, he was freed after spending 40 years in slavery by the order of President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay after the Sultan of Morocco requested his release.-Life:He...
- Alex KronemerAlex KronemerAlexander Kronemer the co-executive producer of Unity Productions Foundation. He is also a writer, lecturer and documentary producer focusing on religious diversity, Islam and cross-cultural understanding....
- Michael WolfeMichael WolfeMichael Wolfe is an American poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of . He is also a frequent lecturer on Islamic issues at universities across the United States including Harvard, Georgetown, Stanford, SUNY Buffalo, and Princeton...
- Andrea KalinAndrea KalinAndrea Kalin is an independent American filmmaker . She is also the principal and founder of Spark Media, Inc. and founder and Executive Director of Stone Soup Productions, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit foundation-Personal life:...
- Mos DefMos DefDante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...