"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."
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.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.