I Cannot Write My Life: Islam, Arabic, and Slavery in Omar ibn Said's America

by Carl W. Ernst and Mbaye Lo

Book Overview

Omar ibn Said (1770-1863) was a Muslim scholar from West Africa who spent more than fifty years enslaved in the North Carolina household of James Owen, brother of Governor John Owen. In 1831 Omar composed a brief autobiography, the only known narrative written in Arabic by an enslaved person in North America, and he became famous for his Arabic writings. His enslavers also provided him with an Arabic Bible and claimed Omar as a convert to Christianity,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 146967467X
• ISBN13: 9781469674674
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.1"