"He
was learned in the Islamic sciences and could speak at least 4
different African languages, in addition to Arabic and English, and in 1781,
after returning from study in the renowned city of learning-Timbuktu,
Abd'r-Rahman joined the armies of his father.
At age 26, he was made an Emir of
one of the regiments that conquered the lands of the Bambara and
in 1788 his father "made him the head of a 2000 men army whose mission was
to protect the coast and strengthen their economic interest in the region. It
was during this military campaign that Abd'r-Rahman was captured and enslaved.”
He was sold to the British who brought him to Natchez, Mississippi where he labored on
the cotton plantation of Thomas Foster for more than thirty-eight years before
gaining his freedom. In 1794 he married Isabella, another slave of
Foster's, and eventually fathered a large family: five sons and four daughters.
By using his knowledge of growing cotton in Futa
Jallon, Abdul-Rahman rose to a position of authority on the plantation and
became the de facto foreman. This granted him the opportunity to
grow his own vegetable garden and sell at the local market. During this time,
he met an old acquaintance, Dr. John Cox, an Irish surgeon who had served on an
English ship, and had become the first white man to reach Timbo after being
abandoned by his ship and then falling ill.
Cox stayed ashore for six months
and was taken in by Abdul-Rahman's family, where he was tasked to teach
Abdul-Rahman English. Cox appealed to Foster to sell his "Prince" so
he could return to Africa. However, Foster would not budge, since he viewed
Abdul-Rahman as indispensable to the Foster farm. Dr. Cox continued, until his
death in 1829, to seek Ibrahim's freedom, to no avail. After Cox died, his son
continued the cause to free Abdul-Rahman.
In 1826, Abdul-Rahman wrote a letter to his
relatives in Africa. A local newspaperman, Andrew
Marschalk, who was Dutch, sent the letter to United States Senator Thomas
Reed from Mississippi, who was in town at the time, and Reed
forwarded it to the U.S. Consulate in Morocco. Since
Abdul-Rahman wrote in Arabic, Marschalk and the U.S. government assumed that he was
a Moor.
After the Sultan of Morocco Abderrahmane read the letter, he asked
President Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay to release Abdul-Rahman. In
1829, Thomas Foster agreed to the release of Abdul-Rahman, without payment,
with the stipulation that he return to Africa and not live as a free man in
America.
Before leaving the US, Abdul-Rahman and his wife
went to various states and Washington, D.C. where he met with President Adams
in person. He solicited donations, through the press, personal appearances,
the American Colonization Society and
politicians, to free his family back in Mississippi. Word got back to Foster,
who considered this a breach of the agreement. Abdul-Rahman's actions and
freedom were also used against President John Quincy Adams by future
president Andrew Jackson during the presidential
election.
After ten months, Abdul-Rahman and Isabella had
raised only half the funds to free their children, and instead left for Monrovia,
Liberia, without their children. He lived for four months before
contracting a fever and died at the age of 67. He never saw Fouta Djallon or
his children again.
The funds that Abdul-Rahman and Isabella raised only
bought the freedom of two sons and their families. They were reunited with
Isabella in Monrovia. Thomas Foster died the same year as Abdul-Rahman.
Foster's estate, including Abdul-Rahman's other children and grandchildren, was
divided among Foster's heirs and scattered across Mississippi and the South.
Abdul-Rahman's descendants still reside in Monrovia and in Natchez
Mississippi United States. In 2006, Abdul-Rahman's descendants
gathered for a family reunion at Foster's Field.
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