Jallo, Job ben Solomon
- Allan D. Austin
rising member of a leading Muslim family in Senegal, a captive in Gambia, and later a slave in Maryland, was born Ayuba ibn Suleiman Diallo in Bondu, West Africa, to a prosperous family. Though little information about Job's early years is available, it is known that by the age of fifteen he was, his amanuensis wrote, well on his way to becoming an Alfa—following his father and grandfather—one of the religious leaders in an area of eastern Senegal renowned then and at the time of the explorer Mungo Park's1775 visit as a territory where Muslims at least need not fear enslavement Job not only advanced positively in his koranic and Arabic studies but he also proved to be a brave and resourceful trader His growing wealth and respectability led to a marriage with the daughter of a neighboring Alfa of gold exporting Tombut Bambuk After ...
A version of this article originally appeared in African American National Biography.