To learn more about Omar Ibn Said and the commercial, cultural, and spiritual connections between his native West Africa and slavery in the Carolinas, check out the materials listed here. For more information and to hear directly from many of the experts cited below, attend the remaining Exploring Omar discussions on March 12 and April 23, leading up to the May 27 world premiere of Spoleto’s new commissioned opera, Omar.
We recommend starting here → A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn Said by Omar Ibn Said, translated and edited by Ala Alryyes (Find it on Amazon)
Continue with these resources:
- The Library of Congress’s Omar Ibn Said Collection
- Library of Congress podcast: “The Long Journey of Omar Ibn Said”
- Charleston Time Machine podcast by Nic Butler:
- Literary Expressions of African Spirituality edited by Carol P. Marsh-Lockett and Elizabeth J. West
- Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas by Sylviane Diouf
- Religion and American Cultures: Tradition, Diversity, and Popular Expression edited by Gary Laderman and Luis D. León
- Penn Center: A History Preserved by Orville Vernon Burton with Wilbur Cross
- Fueling the State: Energy, Politics, and the Environment in Senegal from 1450 to Present Day by John Cropper
- “‘I Wish To Be Seen In Our Land Called Afrika’: Umar B. Sayyid’s Appeal To Be Released From Slavery (1819)” by John Hunwick. Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 5 (2003-2004)
- “A New African American Museum in Charleston Will Rise Above a Significant Site From the Slave Trade” by Sarah Buder. Afar Magazine, November 1, 2019
- Online exhibit Enslaved and Freed African Muslims: Spiritual Wayfarers in the South and the Lowcountry by Muhammad Fraser-Rahim
NOTE » Omar premieres at the 2022 Festival, running May 27 – June 12.
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