My name is bill miller, and i codirect the fall for the book festival. Whoo thank you very much. [laughter] i am so glad you all are here. First of all, let me a couple of housekeeping things. Cspan is here taping this evening, so that will be broadcast later. We will, that will include the question and answer session, so when we get to that portion, please come down to the microphone here on my left, and that will be lit so that if you ask the scintillating, brilliant question, youll be on cspan. The, we will, were going to do a little presentation, explanation, a couple of things here. Well try to move them along fairly quickly. But then well bring out sandra, and we know thats why youre here, and then we will have book sales and signing in the lobby afterward. Ive been involved with fall for the book since it was a Study Committee in 1998, and it was formed by the city of fairfax, Fairfax County library and a group of us here at mason. From those beginnings, fall for the book has al
He toured United States, raising money to buy freedom for himself and his children. Newspapers around the country chronicled his travels and his life story. Colonization enthusiasts, white americans who wanted to emancipate black people and repatriate them to west africa, hoped that ibrahaman would aid them in establishing the medic ties before the death between the colonies of liberia and nearby kingdoms as well as helping to convert west africa to christianity. In 1829, he journeyed to liberia with his wife. Though he was unable to fulfill the hopes of his captors and sponsors in the United States. He died shortly after his arrival there. We know about him in part because he was literate. And also was able to advocate for himself and his family using american ideas about islam and muslims to get what he wanted. Most enslaved muslims were not so lucky. Similarly, yaro mamout, who was enslaved in 1762, one his freedom after being a slave to a maryland family. He moved to washington dc,