PBS is showing an interesting documentary Monday night (February 5): "Prince Among Slaves." It tells the true story of an African Muslim prince who was sold into slavery in the American South in 1788. His name was Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori, and he remained enslaved for 40 years before ultimately regaining his freedom and returning to Africa. Winner of Best Documentary at the 2007 American Black Film Festival, the film uses "feature-film styled re-enactments," contemporary artworks, archival letters and diaries and on-camera interviews with a dozen scholars and geneological experts as well as Terry Alford, whose historical biography inspired the film, and Artemus Gaye, a descendant of Abdul Rahman.

The film was produced by the Unity Productions Foundation, an interesting nonprofit media organization dedicated to creating and using high-quality films to bring people of different faiths into conversation to "end the Clash of Civilizations," with a particular focus on Islam and Muslims. Through their grassroots project "20,000 Dialogues" they organize interfaith discussions around local showing of their films. Their Web site is rich with resources surrounding "Prince Among Slaves" and their other films: histories, geneologies, biographies, videos and more.

"Prince Among Slaves"

   

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