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Did you know an African prince ended up enslaved in the United States?

In midst of horrifying Atlantic slave trade, a shocking incident unfolded, involving royal.
His name was Abdul-Rahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, but title and privilege didn't spare him from a fate that overcame millions. Born in 1762, in the Muslim Futa Jallon kingdom of Guinea, Sori was a prince, fluent in Arabic and several African languages, and reportedly led troops in battle. A twist of fate in 1788 saw the prince captured and sold to English slave traders, before docking in Natchez, Mississippi. For 40 agonizing years, Sori toiled in bondage on a Mississippi cotton plantation, his royal lineage unknown to his captors. It wasn't until 1828, when a visiting doctor recognized him, that Sori's true identity was discovered. Notably, the tale of the enslaved prince intrigued President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay who secured Sori's freedom in 1829. After a lengthy publicity tour, Prince Abdul-Rahman was finally able to return to his native Guinea in 1829, but tragically, he passed away only a few months upon arrival. Prince Abdul-Rahman's astonishing journey from royalty to slavery shatters many of our assumptions, reminding us of the vast scope and indiscriminate nature of the slave trade.

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