In celebration of African Heritage Month, for Profiles in Excellence, we honor Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, known later by various names, was remarkable for many reasons. Born to a wealthy merchant family, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery, transported to England and later to Maryland. What makes him remarkable was his rare ability and luck to find people who spoke Wolof, who read Arabic and made a good deal to return to his home in Banjul, between the Senegal and Gambia rivers. It took him four years to buy his freedom and return to West Africa. But during that time, one of his wives remarried. Diallo told an Englishman upon his return home, “She could not help thinking I was dead, for I had gone to a land from whence no Fula ever yet returned.” His captivity took place during the early 18th century. For Hard Knock Radio, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
