Who is Abdul Rahman?
Abdul was a young prince who was living in the beautiful valleys and mountains of Futa Jallon, Africa. He was raised learning many languages from teachers, and wise elders who lived with him. As a young prince, he was taught how to read, write, and do the things a prince he would soon become, would need to know.
Captured and Enslaved
One day, while Abdul and his men were walking out in the woods; he was captured by a rival tribe. He and his men were dragged on a ship, and headed to America. The ship was cramped, with many slaves. They were stacked on boards and had no space from each other. When the slaves arrived, the were auctioned. Rahman was sold to a man named Thomas Foster. Foster forced Rahman to have his hair cut, and stripped of his identity. Rahman was given the ironic name "Prince" by his slave owner, and started working for him right away. Rahman was looked up by all of Fosters slaves, soon he would be wed to another slave, and have 8 children.
A day to Remember
While working at a market on a Sunday afternoon, Rahman was spotted by John cox. A man who he helped recover from a sickness. John cox wanted to help Rahman become the free man he once was a while ago, and to return home. Cox visited Foster, but Foster had no price for his slave's freedom. Through all of the pleading and begging, made Foster want to keep "Prince" even more.
Coming Home
When Thomas Foster finally came to his senses and was willing to let his Prince go home; he set rules in place. If Rahman left, then that would mean that his children would need to leave also. So when He left, Rahman promised all of Foster's slaves that they would be free one day. So with that promise, Rahman talked to John Quincy Adams and tried to compromise with him. Adams refused to buy out Fosters slaves and didn't want anything to do with it. Rahman's story ends with the question of: Was Rahman successful or not? I believe that Rahman was successful in the fact that he could prove that he wasn't a slave, he was a Prince.
Prince Among Slaves. Dir. Bill Duke & Andrea Kalin. PBS. 2008
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