Islamic Online University

"It is recorded that in many instances Islamic slaves held positions of authority on plantations. Some even kept statistical plantation records in Arabic for the owners..." (Emphasis mine - J.)

From here: http://www.drake.edu/media/departmentsoffices/dussj/2013-2011documents/IslamThompson.pdf

Maybe what I read before is not QUITE as revisionist as I was convinced, earlier...
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A government agency bending to political/ideological pressures? Unthinkable. As unthinkable as imagining the DoD would so bend, indifferent to the welfare of service members. Or that the VA could be indifferent to the wellbeing of veterans. Or that the IRS...

 

More mention of Arabic plantation records in the U.S., their keepers and where these events were recorded: https://books.google.ca/books?id=t3--xZmtC9wC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=slaves+keeping+plantation+records+in+Arabic&source=bl&ots=BDxL2NosTr&sig=cJJDykNThcR0JBMmWgIHwSD7h-M&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOhca74KbTAhVF94MKHdk-DuYQ6AEIQzAG#v=onepage&q=slaves%20keeping%20plantation%20records%20in%20Arabic&f=false

A brief quote, in which the slaves' skills were said to include "copying out the entire Qur'an from memory, keeping plantation records and even detailed autobiographies."

Well, we can point to at least one Slave autobiography in Arabic, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_ibn_Said so I'm still hopeful the oft-mentioned plantation records can be found - but until then... 'bye for now.

J.

 

So, is the Smithsonian lying? Did Yarrow Mamout and others never exist? Were they, perhaps, feigning literacy, or...

J.

 

Last word on the subject, I promise.

Anyone can say my sources are revisionist if they like. They have their opinion, I have mine. At any rate, I have seen a strong thread throughout writing on the subject, to suggest a pretty large number of Muslim slaves were imported into the US. Estimates I saw ranged between 10% and 30% of all slaves. There is also a fairly widespread concept - numbers of these Arabic-literate slaves being given authority over others. Also, I read of two reactions to literacy among these captives: some owners were said to have made use of it and assigned appropriate tasks; others feared and tried to suppress the ability.

I cannot find record of any particular Arabic-literate slave in the US keeping plantation records, but I still do not discount the possibility. Objection was raised to my citing sources dealing with slavery outside the US, but I think it is important to note that in the case of Jamaica, we still have the name of at least one slave who kept plantation records in Arabic, and know the plantation where he worked. I feel if it happened there, there is no reason it couldn't have happened in the US. Jamaica was often a first stop after the voyage from Africa for slaves, where many were "seasoned" or accustomed to farm work, in reasonably good conditions, regaining health after a brutal voyage. Many were later sold at a profit to U.S. buyers.

Nope - can't prove it, but I'll still allow for the possibility of Arabic-literate slaves keeping US plantation records. Anyone else - YMMV.

J.

 

does this count?

Muslims in Early America on JSTOR

American Slaves Who Were Readers and Writers - ProQuest

https://academic.oup.com/jis/article-abstract/15/3/331/883656/Representing-the-West-in-the-Arabic-Language-The

 

Yes, of course it does- thanks.

Omar Ibn Said - also cited previously (by me) from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_ibn_Said
Quite a few interesting titles on the subject of Muslim /American slaves here, in this ad. https://www.amazon.ca/Muslim-American-Slave-Life-Omar/dp/0299249549

J.