Study Questions
1. What were the essential elements of Ibrahima’s education in Africa?
2. How did Ibrahima become a slave?
3. What were some of the key tenets of Ibrahima’s faith as a Muslim? In what ways were he and other Muslim slaves able to continue practicing their faith in America?
4. Why did Ibrahima “accept” his enslavement after running away to the forest?
5. In what ways did Ibrahima preserve his culture and individuality even while filling the role of a slave?
6. What was the nature of free enterprise for slaves on some southern plantations, and why would a planter allow it to exist?
7. Why were John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay interested in freeing Ibrahima?
8. Why would 140 Mississippians in 1828 contribute to a fund to buy the freedom of Ibrahima’s wife, Isabella?
9. The author makes a distinction between a slave and an enslaved person, sometimes choosing the latter term to describe Ibrahima. What is the meaning of this distinction? How does the story of Ibrahima give meaning to the distinction?
10. Why were abolitionists interested in Ibrahima? How did he help their cause?
1. What were the essential elements of Ibrahima’s education in Africa?
2. How did Ibrahima become a slave?
3. What were some of the key tenets of Ibrahima’s faith as a Muslim? In what ways were he and other Muslim slaves able to continue practicing their faith in America?
4. Why did Ibrahima “accept” his enslavement after running away to the forest?
5. In what ways did Ibrahima preserve his culture and individuality even while filling the role of a slave?
6. What was the nature of free enterprise for slaves on some southern plantations, and why would a planter allow it to exist?
7. Why were John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay interested in freeing Ibrahima?
8. Why would 140 Mississippians in 1828 contribute to a fund to buy the freedom of Ibrahima’s wife, Isabella?
9. The author makes a distinction between a slave and an enslaved person, sometimes choosing the latter term to describe Ibrahima. What is the meaning of this distinction? How does the story of Ibrahima give meaning to the distinction?
10. Why were abolitionists interested in Ibrahima? How did he help their cause?