In 1730, Job Ben Solomon  — a Senegalese man and active slave trader — was captured during an excursion in the Gambian River region. Once stateside, he was imprisoned for attempting to escape from Maryland.

After writing a letter to his family back home, it was intercepted by a prominent US figure, James Oglethorpe, who arranged Job’s freedom and sent him to London. From there, Job’s imprint expanded on the international scene. By 1734, he was back in Senegal, starting life over after his time in captivity and abroad.

In this episode of Black History in Two Minutes or So hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. — with additional commentary from Sylviane A. Diouf of Brown University, Daina Ramey Berry of the University of Texas and Imani Perry of Princeton University — we look at an important figure whose life allowed us an opportunity to understand the many ways at which native Africans existed, practiced religion, and navigated during the Atlantic slave trade.

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Archival Materials Courtesy of:

• Alamy Images

• Getty Images

• The Library of Congress

Additional Archival Material Courtesy of:

• National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Michael Graham-Stewart Slavery Collection. Acquired with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund

• National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

• Princeton Theological Seminary Library

• Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora

Executive Producers:

• Robert F. Smith

• Henry Louis Gates Jr.

• Dyllan McGee

• Deon Taylor

Senior Producer:

• William Ventura

Series Producers:

• Chinisha Scott

• William Ventura

Executive in Charge of Production:

• Robert L. Yacyshyn

Post Production Supervisor:

• Veronica Leib

Post Production Coordinator:

• Katherine Swiatek

Written By:

• Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Additional Writing:

• Kevin Burke

• Kelsi Lindus

• Chinisha Scott

• William Ventura

Editors:

• Margaret Metzger

• Anne Yao

Producer:

• Kevin Burke

Archival Producer:

• Megan Graham

Research:

• Zoë Smith

Assistant Editors:

• Patrice Bowman

• Nicholas Mastrangelo

Director of Photography:

• Nikki Bramley

• Nausheen Dadabhoy

• Stephen McCarthy

Graphic Design:

• Anthony Kraus

Special Thanks:

• Daina Ramey Berry

• Sam Hartley

• Elyssa Hess

• Stacey Holman

• Hasan Jeffries

• Peniel Joseph

• Imani Perry

Music By:

• Oovra Music

Be Woke presents is brought to you by Robert F. Smith and Deon Taylor.

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