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Prince Among Slaves

In 1788, the slave ship Africa set sail from the Gambia River, headed for American shores with its hold laden with hundreds bound in chains. Eight months later, a handful of survivors found themselves for sale in Natchez, Mississippi. One of them, 26-year-old Abdul Rahman Ibrahima, a highly educated African prince, and heir to a kingdom made an astonishing claim to Thomas Foster, the plantation owner who purchased him at auction, that the bedraggled Abdul Rahman's father would pay gold for his return. Foster dismissed the claim as a lie.

Prince Among Slaves tells the story of Abdul Rahman, trilingual, a military general and heir to a West African nation the size of Great Britain, who did not return to Africa for 40 years. In that time, he toiled on Foster's plantation. He married a fellow slave, Isabella, and they had nine children. Gradually, he also became the most famous African in America, attracting the support of President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay. Abdul Rahman returned to Africa at the age 67, only to fall ill and die just as word of his return reached his former kingdom. Throughout a life of Shakespearean dimensions, Abdul Rahman maintained his dignity and hope for the freedom of his people.

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What Others Say About the Film

It is difficult to imagine, in this world of mostly modern thinking where technology creates at least a geographic intimacy, the hopeless plight of Abdul-Rahman and the many millions like him. His first desire was, of course, escape. But in 1788, alone in a strange land, with no resources, no friends, not even the assumption of humanity to protect him, escape was impossible. Instead, he was forced to draw upon his faith in God and submit to the life that was now set before him, a life unimaginable just one short year before. ... [This] is why stories like Prince Among Slaves are so important: to show, as one descendant says when he organizes the reunion that ends the film, that these lives "did not begin in slavery. They began in freedom."

Los Angeles Times

Abdul Rahman’s remarkable story will soon air on public television for the first time – and, as its producers hope, may also foster awareness of a positive Muslim figure outside of current political conflicts. Beyond his religion, [Prince Among Slaves] also illuminates the tremendous capacity of a human being to endure, hope, struggle and prevail.

The Muslim Observer

Having students understand the African culture that was brought to the US via the slave trade is a good way to start… students are also under the impression that Muslims only come from the Middle East. It helps to see [in Prince Among Slaves] other cultures practicing Islam to open up stereotypes.

Kelly E.

Tremendously useful, [Prince Among Slaves] provided strong connections to discussions that my class had about the role of Islam in West Africa and the US.

Jenny Kline

The extensive credits of Executive Producers Alex Kronemer and Michael Wolfe span over 10 years of film making and include: Enemy of the Reich; Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World; Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think; Allah Made Me Funny; On a Wing and A Prayer: An American Muslim Learns to Fly; Talking Through Walls; Prince Among Slaves; Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain; and Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet.

This film was produced and directed by Rob Gardner, whose credits include Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land; Islam: Empire of Faith; Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think; Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain; and Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire.

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