Liberia:
A Nation Is Born
The two
vessels left from Freetown and sailed down the coast to Cape
Messurado. Their attempt to land on the mainland was thwarted by a
native assault. The colonists took refuge on Providence Island, in
the Messurado River near the cape, on January 7, 1822. President
Monroe dispatched a military unit to the area to assist the settlers
in reaching their territory on the mainland, where they finally landed by
force on April 22. Providence Island had not possessed an adequate
supply of fresh water, and the rainy season had begun. Many of the
new settlers began to fall ill, just as the colonists of the Elizabeth had
done a year earlier. The colony survived, however, and was
strengthened on August 8, when the brig Strong, which had been
chartered by the U.S. Government and left Hampton Roads, Virginia on
May 26, arrived at Cape Messurado. The Strong carried food and other
supplies for the colony, along with 55 black colonists. They worked
to build houses and a church, and a permanent settlement came into
being. The new colony was named Liberia, to signal the liberty that
it had brought the black settlers, and the main village on the coast
of Cape Messurado, which soon became the capital, was named Monrovia
in honor of President James Monroe, whose efforts had made the colony
possible.
Once Liberia was founded, all
that remained to do was to continue to supply American black colonists to
help it grow. The American colonization society distributed
pamphlets (such as the one at left) to free blacks, trying to convince
them to go to
Liberia. Recruitment proved difficult, however, as negative black
attitudes
towards colonization continued and limited the numbers of potential
settlers. The
high costs of transatlantic transport and
maintaining a colony also prevented the society from
sponsoring frequent voyages. By 1830, only 1,430 blacks had been settled
in Liberia. Although not an immediate success, the colonization effort
received a major boost after the Nat Turner slave uprising in
1831(depicted below).
Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland all appropriated funds for the shipment
of free blacks to Africa. Also, many more blacks were now more willing to
emigrate since the Turner rebellion had produced significant white
backlash against free blacks. Given these circumstances, over 1000 blacks
went to Liberia in 1832.
Colonization then slowed
once again, although continuing sporadically. After the Mexican War
ended, however, a political crisis erupted over whether to allow slaves in
the newly acquired territories. Anti-black feelings hit a new high,
rising up so much that the Indiana legislature went so far as to make it
illegal for free blacks to live in the state. The increasing desire to
rid America of blacks helped the colonization movement to raise funds and
recruit settlers. Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey all appropriated
funds to finance the deportation of blacks to Africa. These circumstances
made it possible for over 4,000 free blacks to be brought to Liberia
between 1848 and 1854.
In the meantime, there had been
constant conflicts over control in Liberia between the colonists, the
American Colonization Society, and the United States government. This
problem was solved in June of 1847, when the people of Liberia declared
their independence from the United States, becoming the first democratic
republic on the African continent. Joseph Jenkins Roberts (at left), a
wealthy Monrovia merchant who had emigrated from Virginia in 1829 and
become the first black American Colonization Society Governor of Liberia
in 1841, was elected the first President of Liberia in 1848.
To find out how the era of American colonization in Africa came to an
end and what happened to Liberia, continue to The Dream Dies:
Colinization Comes to a Close.
Take a look at my sources.
Check out links to explore
other sites relating to African-American colonization on the web.
Go back to my main Colonization
Page.
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