Take the Chicago Reads Omar challenge

Read. Watch. Learn. Experience Omar.

What can you discover about American history in 20 minutes?

This fall, Chicagoans are invited to explore the remarkable story of Omar ibn Said, a Muslim scholar from West Africa whose autobiography, handwritten in Arabic in 1831 while he was enslaved in North Carolina, has survived for nearly 200 years.

Chicago Reads Omar is a citywide challenge that invites you to spend about 20 minutes discovering Omar’s life and legacy through four simple steps: Read. Watch. Learn. Experience.

Complete the challenge in one sitting or explore each step at your own pace, leading up to Lyric Opera of Chicago’s October presentation of Omar. You can begin with Omar’s own words, hear from scholars, learn how his story became an opera, and experience it onstage.

And you don’t have to explore alone. Libraries, museums, universities, and community organizations across Chicago are joining the initiative.

Chicago Reads Omar is an initiative of Lyric Opera of Chicago, presented in connection with America250, the national commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, and in partnership with cultural, educational, civic, and community organizations.

Together, these partners are inviting Chicagoans to discover Omar ibn Said’s story and consider its place in American history.

Participating Organizations:

• Library of Congress
• The Newberry Library
• Chicago History Museum
• DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center
• University of Chicago Division of the Arts & Humanities
• DePaul University Social Transformation Research Collaborative

Begin with Omar’s own words.

In 1831, Omar ibn Said wrote an account of his life in Arabic while enslaved in North Carolina. His 15-page handwritten autobiography offers a rare firsthand perspective on enslavement, faith, education, identity, and life in America.

The Library of Congress holds Omar ibn Said’s original manuscripts and makes an English translation of his autobiography available to read free online.

Read the English translation of The Life of Omar ibn Said

Explore the Omar Ibn Said Collection at the Library of Congress

See how Omar’s words endured.

How was Omar’s autobiography discovered, preserved, and made accessible? The Library of Congress’s short video, Preserving Omar ibn Said’s Words: A Slave Narrative, introduces the manuscript and the work involved in safeguarding this extraordinary document.

The video runs approximately two minutes and 30 seconds.

Want to explore further?

The Library of Congress and Georgetown University brought scholars together for an in-depth conversation about Omar’s life, faith, writing, and legacy.

Discover how Omar’s story became an opera.

How do an autobiography written nearly 200 years ago and the life of its author become a work for the stage?

Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Get to Know guide introduces the creators, music, history, and ideas behind Omar. Co-composer and librettist Rhiannon Giddens and co-composer Michael Abels drew on Omar ibn Said’s autobiography to shape an opera that brings his story to a contemporary audience.

Get to Know: Giddens and Abels’s Omar

See Omar’s story brought to life onstage.

Opera brings stories to life through music, voices, and drama. In Omar, Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels transform Omar ibn Said’s autobiography into a work exploring faith, freedom, memory, and the search for home.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar, starring Issachah Savage in the title role, October 23–28, 2026, at the Lyric Opera House.

Explore Omar dates, cast, and tickets

Omar ibn Said’s autobiography is believed to be the only known surviving American slave narrative written in Arabic by a person who experienced enslavement in the United States. Its survival offers a rare opportunity to encounter American history through the words of someone who lived it.

The manuscript also provides insight into Omar’s education, literacy, Muslim faith, and intellectual life, offering a fuller understanding of the diverse experiences and traditions of enslaved Africans in America.

By reading Omar’s own account, we can encounter a perspective often absent from conventional narratives of slavery: that of an enslaved person documenting his life in his own words.
Preserved for generations, Omar’s autobiography continues to inform how we understand the history of slavery and the diverse lives and experiences that shaped America.

Omar ibn Said’s autobiography inspired Omar, the opera by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels. Drawing on his life and writings, the work explores themes of faith, freedom, memory, and belonging through music and drama.

Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production offers audiences an opportunity to encounter Omar’s story onstage. Chicago Reads Omar invites the city to begin that exploration before the performance—through the historical record, scholarly perspectives, and the creative process behind the opera.

Take one step or complete all four. Start with Omar’s words, discover the history, and explore how his story continues to resonate.

READ. WATCH. LEARN. EXPERIENCE OMAR.

Take the Chicago Reads Omar Challenge.

Chicago Reads Omar is a citywide initiative of Lyric Opera of Chicago, presented in connection with America250, the national commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, in partnership with libraries, museums, universities, and community, civic, and faith organizations across Chicago.