Dread and Dreams: The Mississippi River and the Journey of Prince Ibrahima

(Click on image to enlarge.)

I was honored to speak about Prince Ibrahima at the Pilgrimage Garden Club Symposium held Saturday, September 26, 2026, at The Carriage House in Natchez, Mississippi. The program was held in memory of James McHenry Wade, curator of Longwood. Its theme was “The People, River, and History that Shaped Natchez.”

My presentation examines the Mississippi River as both a passage into bondage and a pathway toward freedom in the remarkable life of Prince Ibrahima, the West African Muslim prince who spent 40 years enslaved on a plantation near Natchez. His story reveals the river’s complex and often contradictory role, as a force that carried enslaved people into captivity and later became part of his journey toward liberation.

See the full presentation at this link:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/414916514_Dread_and_Dreams_The_Mississippi_River_and_the_Journey_of_Prince_Ibrahima

(Click on image to enlarge.)