Ibrahima historical marker a gift to Natchez

Top of the Morning column published in The Natchez Democrat (Wednesday, October 8, 2025, page 4A)

Natchez will honor Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahima with its first historical marker dedicated to the enslaved African prince, celebrating his legacy at a ceremony near Jefferson College on Oct. 24.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Top of the Morning

Ibrahima historical marker a gift to Natchez

 

By Roscoe Barnes III

 

The Natchez Historical Society is planning a dedication ceremony for a historical marker that will honor the legacy of Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahima (1762-1829). The ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 24, near Historic Jefferson College on the corner of Highway 61 and Jefferson College Street.
 
Natchez Historical Society is also the sponsor of the marker that was acquired through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
 
The marker will be the first one in the Natchez-Adams County area to honor the prince who was enslaved for 40 years on Thomas Foster’s plantation just outside of Natchez.
With that in mind, we could say that this dedication ceremony will be historic in more ways than one.
 
Gift to community
 
In October 2024, the society’s board members approved a donation of $3,420 to cover the cost of the marker. The total cost includes $2,670 for the marker and post, plus an additional $750 for a sign underneath that reads, “Sponsored by the Natchez Historical Society.”
 
Karen Hill, former president of the society, said the marker is an important gift to the Natchez-Adams County community and to the descendants of Ibrahima, many of whom still live in Natchez.
 
Ibrahima’s story is told in Dr. Terry Alford’s book, “Prince Among Slaves: The True Story of an African Prince Sold into Slavery in the American South” (Oxford University Press, 1977). Alford praised the society for its donation, its initiative, and the foresight it has shown to commemorate Ibrahima.
 
Ibrahima’s backstory
 
Ibrahima was a Muslim prince who said he was born in 1762 in Timbuktu, a city in the current western African country of Mali. He grew up in Timbo, Guinea, West Africa. His father, Ibrahima Sori, ruled as a political and religious leader in the Futa Jallon highlands of Guinea.
 
By the age of 26, Ibrahima became a colonel in his father’s army. In January 1788, he and his soldiers were returning home to celebrate a victory when they were ambushed by the Hebohs, a rival non-Muslim group that prevented Futa Jallon from trading with Europeans. Ibrahima was captured and sold to slave traders for two flasks of powder, a few trade muskets, eight hands of tobacco, and two bottles of rum.
 
 As a captive of the slave traders, Ibrahima sailed from West Africa to the West Indies and on to New Orleans, from where he sailed north on the Mississippi River to Natchez.
 
Ibrahima arrived in Natchez in August 1788 at the site that is known as Under-the-Hill. From there, he and his friend, Samba, who served under him in the military, were sold to a farmer named Thomas Foster for $930.
 
In 1791, Foster purchased a woman in her early 20s named Isabella. She and Ibrahima married on Christmas Day of 1794. The two of them welcomed nine children into their family: five sons and four daughters.
 
In 1803, Ibrahima met newspaper editor and printer Andrew Marschalk, who is today known as the “Father of Mississippi Journalism.” He would play a significant role in helping Ibrahima to gain his freedom.
 
Connection to Jefferson College
 
The area near Jefferson College was selected as the site for Ibrahima’s marker because of its connection to his story.
 
First, the land occupied by Jefferson College was donated by John Foster and James Foster, according to the National Register of Historic Places. Both men were brothers of Thomas Foster.
 
Second, it was in the area near the college that Ibrahima recognized Dr. John Coats Cox in 1807 at the market. Cox, an Irishman, had sailed to West Africa in 1781. After going ashore to hunt, he became lost and ill but was rescued by the Fulani people and taken to Timbo, where Ibrahima’s father cared for him.
 
After their chance meeting in Mississippi, the doctor tried for many years to purchase Ibrahima’s freedom, but Thomas Foster refused to release him. Even so, Ibrahima’s fame spread because of his meeting with Cox, and it eventually led to his freedom.
 
Finding freedom
 
In 1828, Ibrahima gained his freedom through the help of Natchez newspaper editor, Marschalk, and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Clay in President John Quincy Adams’ administration. Clay authorized Marschalk’s efforts to obtain Ibrahima’s freedom.
 
On Friday, Feb. 22, 1828, Thomas Foster delivered Ibrahima to Marschalk’s printing office along with a deed in trust for Ibrahima. Ibrahima was 66. Isabella’s freedom was later purchased for $200.
 
On April 8, 1828, Ibrahima and Isabella traveled with their family to the dock under the hill. They boarded the Neptune steamship and waved goodbye to their children, who remained enslaved. For several months after leaving Natchez, Ibrahima travelled to Washington, D.C., and Connecticut, among other places, on a fundraising campaign to help free his children. However, he came up short with his fundraising campaign.
 
In February 1829, he and Isabella sailed to Monrovia, Liberia, which the American Colonization Society had created as a home for formerly enslaved Africans. During their stay in Liberia, Ibrahima contracted a disease and died on July 6, 1829, at the age of 67. He never reached his homeland. Isabella remained in Liberia. Two of her sons later joined her.
 
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Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D., is cultural heritage tourism manager at Visit Natchez.