Jefferson's Muslim fugitives, the lost story of enslaved Africans, their Arabic letters, and an American president, Jeffrey Einboden
Type
Label
Jefferson's Muslim fugitives, the lost story of enslaved Africans, their Arabic letters, and an American president, Jeffrey Einboden
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Jefferson's Muslim fugitives
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
1135092497
Responsibility statement
Jeffrey Einboden
Sub title
the lost story of enslaved Africans, their Arabic letters, and an American president
Summary
"On October 3, 1807, Thomas Jefferson was contacted by an unknown traveler from the American frontier, who urgently requested a private "interview" with the President, promising to disclose "a matter of momentous importance". By the next day, Jefferson held in his hands two astonishing manuscripts whose history has been lost for over two centuries. Authored by Muslims fleeing captivity in rural Kentucky, these documents delivered to the President in 1807 were penned by literate African slaves, and written entirely in Arabic. Jefferson's Muslim Fugitives reveals the untold story of two escaped West Africans in the American heartland whose Arabic writings reached a sitting U.S. President, prompting him to intervene on their behalf. Recounting a quest for emancipation that crosses borders of race, region and religion, Jeffrey Einboden unearths Arabic manuscripts that circulated among Jefferson and his prominent peers, including a document from 1780s Georgia identified as the earliest surviving example of Muslim slave authorship in the newly-formed United States. Revealing Jefferson's lifelong entanglements with Islam and captivity, Jefferson's Muslim Fugitives tracks the ascent of Arabic slave writings to the highest halls of U.S. power, while questioning why such vital legacies from the American past have been entirely forgotten."--, Provided by publisher
Table Of Contents
"A Matter of Momentous Importance" -- "Beyond Oure Expressing" -- "The Original Treaty in Arabic" -- "Written in fair Arabic Characters" -- "I take Refuge with the Lord of Daybreak" -- "His name is 'Usman" -- "Combinations of Letters" -- "Go to Mecca; and God will Render you Victorious" -- "Wr s Unavdble" -- "Mr Jefferson is in Reality a Musselman" -- "The Prayer of the Poorest Slave of God" -- "The Runners" -- "Conquest is Close" -- "A Word of any Language" -- "Seven of the Arab Dialects" -- "Humanity certainly Pleads Loud" -- "Supposed to be Spys" -- "His Mountain is made a sort of Mecca" -- "A Sect by Myself" -- "Slave of the Most Merciful" -- "Their Eulogy will be Uttered in other Languages" -- "A Barely Discernible Horizon."
resource.variantTitle
Lost story of enslaved Africans, their Arabic letters, and an American president