Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (1701-1773)
BlackPast.org Blog
Hazel Singer sends this bio:
The British historian, Simon Schama, has a new book and BBC series out called The Face of Britain: The Nation Through Its Portraits. One of the portraits he features, currently on exhibit at London's National Portrait Gallery,
is described as the first portrait of an African in Britain. The key
word here is 'portrait': there were depictions of Africans in Britain
(see the blog post Early Black British on 9/6/13) earlier than this. The
portrait is of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, an
aristocrat who was enslaved by Mandingoes and who ended up in
Maryland. With assistance from numerous people who learned of his
plight, he eventually made his way to Britain and then back to his
homeland in what is now Senegal. His story is awe-inspiring and most
unusual for its time.
This portrait was painted by William Hoare of Bath, England in 1733, a year before Diallo returned to Senegal.
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