Source: Creative Services / iOne Digital
Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori was stolen from his African Kingdom at the age of 26 he was the Prince of Fouta Djallon which is now called Guinea. He was snatched from is homeland and brought over to America as a slave in Natchez, Mississippi.
Sori asked Marschalk to help him get a letter to Africa and Marschalk agreed. Sori took several years but eventually produced what was likely copied Quranic verses. Marschalk used them to “authenticate” Sori’s Moorish origins and attached his own letter expressing Sori’s desire to join his relatives in Morocco, which he sent to the United States consul in Tangier, Morocco. Word of Sori’s predicament eventually got to the Sultan of Morocco and from there, the news of a captive royal wound its way to the United States government. Worried about diplomatic relations, Secretary of State Henry Clay arranged for Sori’s release on February 22, 1828.
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