It was written in the 19th century by Bilali Mohammet, an enslaved West African held on Sapelo Island of Georgia.
The document is held at the Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library[1] at the University of Georgia as part of the Francis Goulding papers.
According to his descendant, Cornelia Bailey, in her history, God, Dr. Buzzard and The Bolito Man, Bilali was from the area of present-day Sierra Leone.
[4] He was enslaved as a teenager, taken to the Bahamas and sold to Dr. Bell, where he was worked as a slave for ten years at his Middle Caicos plantation.
Bilali Mohammed was purchased by Thomas Spalding and assigned as his head driver at his plantation on Sapelo Island.
"Due to his literacy and leadership qualities, he would be appointed the manager of his master's plantation, overseeing approximately five hundred slaves".
[5] In the War of 1812, Bilali and his fellow Muslims on Sapelo Island helped to defend the United States from a British attack.