Ronald Segal's book /Islam's Black Slaves/ is a decent starting point,
but sooner or later a reader who wants to learn more about this subject
will have to consult the works of specialists who know Arabic. A
well-edited collection of documents, many translated from Arabic, is
John Hunwick and Eve Troutt Powell, /The African Diaspora in the
Mediterranean Lands of Islam/ (Princeton, 2002). Hunwick has been
instrumental in a global network of scholars, states, and NGOs who are
attempting to preserve thousands of irreplaceable Arabic manuscripts in
private libraries in Timbuktu.
Doug Deal
History/SUNY Oswego