Tell This in My Memory: Stories of Enslavement from Egypt, Sudan, and the Ottoman Empire

265 Pages·2012·10.879 MB·English

by  Eve M. Troutt Powell

Tell This in My Memory

Tell This in My Memory
STORIES OF ENSLAVEMENT
FROM EGYPT, SUDAN,
AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Eve M. Troutt Powell
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2012 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University
Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Powell, Eve Troutt, author.
Tell this in my memory : stories of enslavement from Egypt, Sudan, and the Ottoman
Empire / Eve M. Troutt Powell.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8047-8233-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Slavery—Egypt—History—19th century. 2. Slaves—Egypt—History—19th century.
3. Slavery—Sudan—History—19th century. 4. Slaves—Sudan—History—19th century.
5. Slavery—Turkey—History—19th century. 6. Slaves—Turkey—History—19th
century. I. Title.
ht1371.p69 2012
306.3’620962—dc23
2012019391
Typeset at Stanford University Press in 9.5/15 Palatino
This book is meant to dignify the history
of those who find themselves refugees.

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Prologue: ‘Abid, A Word with a Long History 1
1 Public Workers, Private Properties:
Slaves in ‘Ali Mubarak’s Historical Records 7
2 Babikr Bedri’s Long March with Authority 39
3 How Salim C. Wilson Wrote His Own Enslavement 77
4 Huda and Halide and the Slaves at Bedtime 115
5 Black Mothers and Fathers, Sanctified by Slavery 149
6 The Country of Saint Josephine Bakhita 185
Epilogue: Laws of Return 207
Notes 215
Bibliography 233
Index 241

Illustrations
Maps
The Ottoman Empire xv
Egypt and the Sudan xvi
The Caucasus xvii
Figures
Sudanese slave woman washing 52
Murgan with British officers 78
Salim C. Wilson 94
Caricature of Huda Sha‘rawi and al-Bash Agha 117
Circassian captives 128
Pope Pius IX, Daniel Comboni, and liberated Sudanese girls 156
Bakhita Kwashe 160
Daniel Sorur Pharim Deng 173
Josephine Bakhita at prayer 186
Bakhita’s photograph on the shirts of Sudanese children 205