Omar ibn SaidSpartanburg museum
documents
West African nobleman
turned slave
This letter was written by a West African nobleman and scholar captured during an African battle and sold to slave traders around 1807, shortly before international slave trade stopped.
Published: Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 7:52 p.m.
The Spartanburg Regional History Museum has a special manuscript tucked away for safe keeping.
The characters on its page are a clue to the life of the author.
It's hard to read the document because it was written in Arabic more than 150 years ago. The paper is deteriorating with age and has some small holes, but the letters are clearly visible.
The letter was written by a West African nobleman and scholar captured during an African battle and sold to slave traders around 1807, shortly before international slave trade stopped.
Omar ibn Said(1770?-1864) wrote more than a dozen manuscripts on history and theology. One document was an autobiography of his life. His letter at the local museum was written in 1853 while he was enslaved in North Carolina.
“This is a rare and unique document. Information on African-Americans wasn't documented because they were considered possessions during slavery,” said Nannie Jefferies, director of the history museum. “This document was written by an individual in his own native tongue and that makes it very special for Spartanburg. He (Said) wrote intelligently and legibly at a time when most African-Americans couldn't read or write.”
Said's manuscript was donated to the history museum by David Reid, the founding director of the Spartanburg Little Theatre. He donated it to the museum in 1982. Museum staff don't know why Reid donated the manuscript, but they are glad he did.
“It is special to have this document because not many exist,” Jefferies said. “I don't know if people can fully understand and appreciate it, but David Reid apparently understood the value.”
Said spent the first part of his life learning from Muslim scholars and traveling around Africa. One of his adventures took him from his home in modern day Senegal on a pilgrimage to Mecca. The journey lasted several years because he made stops along the way.
Despite being forced into slave labor in a foreign land, historians say Said remained faithful to his religious beliefs. He ran away from an abusive slave owner in Charleston and ended up jailed in Fayetteville, N.C. While in jail, Said tried to communicate with his captors by writing in Arabic with a piece of coal on the wall of the jail cell.
Historians say the fact that Said could read and write attracted the attention of the Fayetteville community. He was eventually sold to Gen. James Owen. Said died at a plantation in Bladen County in 1864.
To help Spartanburg residents learn more about Said, the history museum is hosting a program on his life. Philadelphia re-enactor Ahmad Kenya will portray Said in a one-man show titled “From Cultured to Captured: The Story of Omar Ibn Said” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at the David Reid Theater in the Chapman Cultural Center. Tickets are $10.
“This is a journey,” Kenya said. “We refer to it as a journey that goes within participants' hearts and allows them to experience the realities of a world that existed three to four generations ago. The conditions of the world and conditions of America at that time, were dark and hideous. Yet through the conviction and perseverance and faith of human beings to succeed, African-Americans have done so.”
During the 55-minute performance, Kenya chronicles Said's life starting from his childhood through slavery. Clothing and props bring the story to life on the stage.
“Said's life grasped me because I have family origins in North Carolina,” Kenya said. “What also interest me is that Said retained his identity at all cost.”
The show will begin with a discussion presented by Amad Shakur, founder and director for the Center for the African Diaspora, in Charlotte, N.C.
“I will give context and background on this brilliant and fascinating character,” Shakur said. “People may not be familiar with him. It's important to talk a little about his background and his time here in North Carolina and South Carolina.”
Shakur said the program is important because it shows audiences that not all enslaved Africans had the same backgrounds.
“History shapes our identities and our identities are directly connected to our responsibility in the community,” Shakur said. “We should give more accessibility to young people to their history because there are heroes in history they should emulate. These people have made contributions that young people need to know about.”