There are several villages in Morocco that are grossly neglected because the government considers their residents to be the black descendants of slaves. The government has long failed to provide basic social and administrative services to the people living in the small villages of Khandaq ar-Rayhan, south of Tangier, and this neglect is part of the historical marginalization of black Moroccans. The villages of Khandaq ar-Rayhan are inhabited by descendants of maroons who established distinct settlements in the eighteenth century that are now a testimony to their resistance to chattel slavery in Morocco. There are about 500 families living in this area, but the dominant culture in the region and the political administration do not recognize them because they associate the families with the country’s history of racial slavery. I will trace the origin of the families of Khandaq ar-Rayhan to the ‘Alawi ruling dynasty. Primary sources attest that the isolation and later dispersion of Morocco’s black peoples happened during the reign of the ‘Alawi sultan Mawlay Isma‘il (1672-1727), who ordered the enslavement of all black Moroccans to serve in the army under his command. Mawlay Isma‘il’s effort led to the forced collection of about 240,000 black Moroccans, who came from all regions of the country. This enslaved population gradually separated themselves from Isma‘il’s government and claimed their original status of freedom by dispersing throughout the country. I intend to examine and expose the historical marginalization of the people of Khandaq ar-Rayhan and the present dilemma of racial discrimination in Morocco.