WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — A Virginia state agency that operates Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center museums has acquired on of the earliest known portraits of an African enslaved in the colonies.
The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation said it has acquired the portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo. He was a freeborn, educated African who was kidnapped in Africa and sold as a slave in Maryland during the colonial era.
Before taking its place as a centerpiece of the future American Revolution Museum at Yorktown opening in late 2016, the oil portrait from 1733 goes on view at the Yorktown Victory Center beginning June 14.
It shows Diallo in a white robe and turban, wearing around his neck a bright red leather pouch. It is one of two versions painted by 18th century English painter William Hoare.
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