Forgotten Royalty

Program Note: "This piece was composed in celebration of Juneteenth. 'Forgotten Royalty' is the story of Abdulrahman Sori, who was West African royalty before he was enslaved on a Mississippi plantation. After a shackled journey across the Atlantic, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori was desperate to make the man about to purchase him, Thomas Foster, understand his terrible mistake: he wasn’t supposed to be enslaved, the 26-year-old was the heir to one of Africa’s most influential kingdoms. 

Instead of freedom, his protestations earned him the derisive nickname 'Prince,' which he’d carry for his next 40 years of enslavement. Sori’s story is the same as many enslaved Africans and thus their descendants." -Jessica T. Carter