Guardians of a Royal Legacy The Official Royal House of Sori® The Historical Preservation of Prince Abdulrahman Ibrahima ibn Sori

Here is a Zenodo description written to their metadata standards -- clear, complete, and professionally positioned: This article examines the multidisciplinary preservation mission of The Official Royal House of Sori in safeguarding the historical legacy of Prince Abdulrahman Ibrahima Ibn Sori (c. 1762--1829), the Fula prince born in Timbuktu who endured nearly four decades of enslavement in Natchez, Mississippi, before securing his freedom in 1828 through the sustained institutional efforts of the American Colonization Society and the Auxiliary Hartford Colonization Society, and who died in Monrovia, Liberia, in 1829 before reaching his homeland. Drawing upon primary sources including the 1828 published accounts of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the records of the American Colonization Society at the Library of Congress, the Henry Clay Papers, Mississippi plantation and probate records, and nearly two centuries of oral tradition preserved by the Sori lineage, the article situates the preservation work of The Official Royal House of Sori within broader academic discourses on dynastic memory, archival stewardship, African diaspora studies, and the politics of heritage preservation. The article argues that the institution occupies a distinctive position at the intersection of genealogical authority and public history, led by HRH Princess Karen W.S. Brengettsy-Chatman, a direct lineal descendant of the prince through his daughter Esther, one of the Root Nine -- the nine children Prince Abdulrahman and his wife Isabella left behind in Natchez upon their emancipation. It explores tensions between academic historiography and descendant community memory, between American memorialization of the prince as a symbol of Black perseverance and the West African understanding of him as a sovereign figure of the Soriya dynasty of Futa Jallon. Concluding with a reflection on epistemic justice and the right of descendant communities to narrate their own history, the article contributes to ongoing scholarly conversations about the recovery of African royal heritage disrupted by the transatlantic slave trade, the role of Islamic identity in American slavery, and the responsibilities of heritage institutions in the present day.