The Liberian People</CENTER>

The people of the Republic of Liberian come from a diverse ethnic background. Although English is the national language, sixteen local languages are spoken by Liberians. The 1986 census, which is the only one officially taken as of 1999, places the Liberian population at 2.1 million people. The languages and the related population include the following: Bassa-Liberian, 291,106; Belle-Liberian, 10,708; Dey-Liberian, 7,604; Gbandi-Liberian, 59,332; Gio-Liberian, 164,823; Gola-Liberian, 83,148; Grebo-Liberian, 188,275; Kpelle-Liberian, 408,716; Kissi-Liberian, 84,661; Krahn-Liberian, 79,353; Kru-Liberian, 154,110; Lorma-Liberian, 118,716; Mandingo-Liberian, 107,186; Mano-Liberian, 149,277; Mendi-Liberian, 16,462; Vai-Liberian, 74,950; repatriate Liberians, commonly called "Americo-Liberians, 45,957; other Africans, 33,526; others, 24,269. The last catogery includes Liberians of West Indian, African-American,and Congo ancestry; and naturalized citizens.

The linking of the ethnic names to Liberia is not a norm practiced in Liberia. Since the formation of the Liberian state in 1822, the Liberian people have been divided into two opposing and bipolar groups: the Americo-Liberian community (which includes: Liberians with African-American ancestry; indigenous Liberians adopted by African Americans; Liberians with Congo or recaptured African ancestry; Liberians with West Indian ancestry; and naturalized Liberians) and the "country people" which includes Liberians with indigenous ancestry. This ethnic division promoted discrimination, hatred, and antipathy among the Liberian people, and did irreparable damage to the Liberian psyche and the Liberian state, which culminated in the bloody civil war of 1989-1996.

I decided to create these compound adjectives (eg. Grebo-Liberian) for several reasons: first it indicates that although ethnicity should be maintained and respected, each ethnic group is a part of the Liberian state; second, it distinguishes ethnic groups that have transnational identities (Mendis are in Liberia and Sierra Leone; Mandingos are found in Liberia and Guinea; and Grebos are found in Liberia and Ivory Coast.); and it will probably help to de-emphasize ethnic hatred that has been part of Liberian life since 1822.

The colonization of African-Americans in Liberia was an idea that was opposed by most of the leaders of the African-American community of the North and by the abolitionists. Consequently, to carry out its grand design of "de-Africanizing" the United States, the colonizationists concentrated their efforts on the slave population that were about to be manumitted, and free African-Americans of the South. Even in the South, some free African-Americans opposed the scheme. To get manumitted slaves to leave, the colonizationists, slave holders, and state governments of the South resorted to coercion and deceit. Although the colonizationists declared in their constitution, that colonization was based on the free will of manumitted African-Americans, in actuality, the majority had two choices: freedom in Liberia or slavery in the United States. Under a plan that was consummated among the colonizationists, slave holders, and state governments, all African-Americans who were manumitted were to be turned over to one of the colonization societies, so that they would be deported to Liberia. Any manumitted African-American who refused to go to Liberia was resold into slavery. In states like Maryland, legislation was passed which forced the removal of free African-Americans out of the state. By 1867, over 82 percent of all African-Americans who emigrated to Liberia came from the slaves states--Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. Even Missouri, which was admitted to the United States, under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, sent 83 free African-Americans to Liberia. American Colonization documents show that out of the 10,942 African-Americans that were sent to Liberia by the ACS, 53 percent did so under the plan worked out among slave holders, the ACS, and the state governments. Southern state documents, and abolitionists papers clearly show that many of the free African-Americans who emigrated did so either under coercive or bamboozled conditions.

Special reference must be made about Liberians who have African-American, West Indian, and recaptured-African ancestry. If you have already read the history page, you known that the arrival of the repatriate Liberian community--- African-Americans, West Indians from Barbados, and recaptured Africans---was consummated through the initiatives of the American Colonization Society, the Maryland Colonization Society, the New York and Pennsylvania Colonization Societies, Mississippi Colonization Society, and the United States Government. By 1866, the United States Government and these organizations had settled approximately 18,010 emigrants in Liberia. The American Colonization Society, the New York and Pennsylvania Colonization Societies, and the Mississippi Colonization Society settled 10,942 African-American, and 346 West Indians from Barbados; the Maryland Colonization Society settled 1,000 African-American emigrants in Cape Palmas, Liberia; and the United States Government settled 5,722 recaptured Africans in Liberia. The table below clearly indicates the ancestry of the Liberias that are called "Congos." From 1845 to 1861, American war vessels recaptured 4,468 African slaves in the Congo River and Kabenda, which is also part of the Congo, and sent them to Liberia.

*Sources: [Warren S. Howard, American Slavers and the Federal Law,University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1963; United States Supreme Court, United States Reports, V. 20-24.]; "Capture off the Slave Ship Cora",The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine,Volume XLVIII, May 1894 to October 1894.

Total Recaptured Africans settled by the American Government, as of November 1865 was 5,728. These recaptured Africans who were called "Congos" were placed under an INDENTURED-SERVANT PROGRAM, a form of enslavement, under the aegis of African-Americans when they were landed in Liberia. Children from 14-20 years of age were placed in an "apprenticeship" program; older adults were placed under a "redemptioner" program for at least 5 years. ( **) For additional information on the "Antelope" please visit the web page "Antelope." One hundred twenty-two recaptured Africans came from the Antelope; and 22 additional recaptured Africans were added to this group. They arrived in Liberia on August 27, 1827.

CAPTURE OF THE SLAVE SHIP CORA AND 700 SLAVES WHO BECAME LIBERIANS

Special referennce should be made of the capture of the slave ship "CORA", because the capture was documented by Wilburn Hall, and published in the 1894 issue of the "Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine." Here are excerpts of this horrendous incident, when the USS Constellation captured the slave ship "Cora":

African slaves who later became Liberians aboard the slave ship Cora

An illustration of African slaves who later became Liberians on the slave cabin of the slave ship "Cora"

Source: "African Repository", Volume 21. It should be noted that the names of these Africans were given to them during their seven-year enslavement in the United States. Two last names stand out among the Africans: Habersham and Berrien. The name Berrien came from Judge John Macpherson Berrien; and Habersham, which came from Richard Wylly Habersham, one of the attorneys of the Africans.

Source: African Repository, Volume 42. It should be noted that 5,957 African-Americans or 53 percent of all African-Americans sent to Liberia, were forced to emigrate (their freedom was conditioned on their willingness to leave the United States); 4,501 or 40 percent were free born African-Americans; 344 or 3 percent purchased their freedom; another 3 percent emigrated from Barbados; 172 were "freedmen." The majority of these repatriate Liberians died after being infected with malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases.

This is a picture of one of the African-American repatriates who was sent to Liberia by the American Colonization Society. He is Alfred F. Russell, as he appeared in the 1860s. He later served as President of Liberia from 1883-1884. His very appearance typified the mulatto class and mulatto doctrine of separation from the masses of the people. Many of them were nearly indistinguishable from their white ancestry. During most of the nineteenth century, the mulatto class ran the government, economy, and the academic life of Liberia. (picture: courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

This is a picture of another African-American repatriate who was sent to Liberia by the American Colonization Society.
She is Jane Roberts, wife of Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first President of Liberia. (picture: courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

In 1866, 346 West Indians from Barbados settled in Liberia. From their ranks came the late President Arthur Barclay and his nephew, the late President Edwin Barclay. From this ethnic group has also emerged Mrs. Antoinette Padmore-Tubman, wife of President William V.S. Tubman, and Ambassador George Arthur Padmore, who served as Liberia's Ambassador to the United States. Another son of the West Indies, was Dr. Edward Wilmot Blyden who was born in Saint Thomas in 1832 and emigrated to Liberia in 1851. He served as Secretary of State of Liberia; he was Liberia's Ambassador to the Court of St. James; and he became President of Liberia College.

The transportation of African-Americans to Liberia by the American Colonization was not always made under agreeable conditions for many African-Americans. Many of them were forced to leave their country of birth, as a condition of their freedom. In 1859, 43 African-Americans departed for Liberia under the auspices of the ACS. The doctor who was appointed to accompany them wrote the following observation:"...John McDonogh had died in 1850, possessed of valuable real estate which he had bequeathed to the cities of New Orleans and Baltimore for educational purposes; he had also a number of slaves who were given their freedom conditioned upon their emigration to Liberia..."When the slaves were about to depart, the accompanying doctor observed the following:"Going upon deck I saw a motley group of negroes, mulattoes, quadroons, men, women, and children of all ages, numbering forty-three;they were busy getting their baggage on board. Many of them were not anxious to go, and were much disheartened at the idea of leaving home."

Moreover, the goal of the ACS was not to abolish slavery or the slave trade. The same ship that returned 43 African-Americans to Liberia, sailed to the Congo basin and brought back 1,400 African slaves to Trinidad. The initial idea of the slavers who were commissionned by the ACS to carried the 43 African-Americans to Liberia, was to sell them in Cuba. For more information on this voyage, read THE LAST SLAVE-SHIP, by George Howe, M.D.

The Liberian people are also genetically linked to ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Nigeria. Ibo slaves were among the first recaptured Africans settled in Liberia. This diverse ethnic link makes Liberia one of the most multi-cultural and multi-ethnic societies in Africa. The amalgamation of the Liberian people through mixed marriage over its 175-year history as a nation, has substantially reduced the existence of an ethnic tabula rasa, despite the fact that some ethnic groups have tried to accentuate their ethnic uniqueness. The unwarranted emphasis on ethnic tabula rasa, by some Liberians, has generated ethnic rivalry over the years, and in fact contributed to the massive lost of life of innocent civilians during the Liberian civil war.

It is also important to note that there are fewer, pure African-American bloodline that currently exist in Liberia, despite the fact that some Liberians who have names associated with African-American settlers of the nineteenth century, tend to trace their roots back to the United States. Three factors explain this phenomenon: first, the majority of the African-Americans, especially those of mixed blood who emigrated to Liberia, had a high mortality rate, primarily due to malaria, yellow fever and other tropical diseases; second, there was a high survival rate among Liberians from the Congo basin who had, acquired and natural immunity against malaria and yellow fever; third, intermarriage among the Liberian people over the years. The Liberian census of 1843 proves the devastating impact of malaria on the African-American emigrants. Out of the 86 African-American emigrants that arrived in Shebro Island and Liberia in 1820, only eight survived by 1843, that means that 91 percent of this group of emigrants were dead by 1843; out of the 33 African-American emigrants that arrived in Liberia in 1822, only 5 were alive in 1843, which means that 70 percent had died by 1843. Out of the 655 African-American emigrants who arrived in Liberia in 1832, only 229 were alive in 1843, which means that 65 percent had died in 11 years; and out of the 639 African-American emigrants who arrived in Liberia in 1833, only 171 were alive in 1843, which means that 73 percent had died in a decade. The death rates were staggering, yet the colonizationists continued to send African-American emigrants to Liberia. Visitors who arrived in Liberia during this period were astounded by the number of fresh graves that they saw.

Among the unusual arrivals in Liberia during the nineteenth century were the following persons: it was reported that a white man accompanied his African-American wife, lived and died in Liberia; a grandchild of Sally Hemings and President Thomas Jefferson whose "features and expression being so surprisingly Jeffersonian, that doubtless one personally familiar with the majestic lineaments and penetrating glance of the 'the sage of Monticello' would not fail to recognize them" was also a resident of Liberia; and 120 African slaves of the "Antelope" who had been freed by a decree of the United States Supreme Court, arrived in Liberia in 1827 after spending 2,576 days of captivity in the United States.

The passage of the 13th Amendment to the United States constitution, which abolished slavery in 1865, coupled with the racists policies and lynching of African-Americans, which accompanied Reconstruction, forced hundreds of African-Americans into self-imposed exile in Liberia. From 1866 to 1868 over 1,558 African-Americans from Macon, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Charleston, South Carolina; Newberry South Carolina; Columbus, Georgia; Mars Bluff, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee; Mobile, Alabama; Efaula, Alabama; and Columbus, Mississippi, sought refuge in Liberia. It was the largest emigration of African-Americans to Liberia, within a three-year period.

The religious profile of the Liberian population includes Christians, who make up about 68 percent of the population; Moslems are 14 percent of the population; and 18 percent subscribe to indigenous religions. Ethnically, the dominant Christian groups in the country are as follows: 94 percent of the Kru people are Christians; 92 percent of the Grebos are Christians; 88 percent of the Bassa people are affiliated with Christianity; 84 percent of the Khran people are associated with Christianity; 83 percent of the Belle people are Christians; and 80 percent of the Kpelle people worship in the Christian church. The dominant Moslem groups include the following: 94 percent of the Mandingos belong to Islam; and 77 percent of the Vai people are of the Moslem faith. The two ethnic groups that have not been deeply penetrated by Christianity and Islam are the Mano people, where about 51 percent of the people are neither Christians nor Moslems; and the Lorma people, where 43 percent of the people are neither Christians nor Moslems.

The quality of life for the Liberian people has not significantly improve over the years. A 1986 statistical report showed that 75 percent of the Liberian people could not read or write; 79 percent of the people did not have access to safe drinking water; the ratio of population to physician was 9,788:1; and only 6 percent of the people had indoor plumbing.

For more information on Liberia, please read:

"The Years The Locusts Have Eaten:Liberia 1816-2004" a comprehensive history of Liberia is now out in hardcover and paperback.

To obtain your copy please call toll free at:1-888-795-4274 or 215-923-4686, or write, Xlibris Coporation, 436 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa, 19113. Xlibris delivers through UPS, consequently, PO boxes are not accepted. To order online, please go to: Order Book Online

Other web pages related to this web site:

Land &Economy of Liberia
Dedication
Aa day in the life of an indigenous-Liberian village.
Liberian Diet
History & Government of Liberia
Home Page
Liberian-Civil War

Experiences of Liberians Studying and Working Overseas

AIDS/HIV: THE LIBERIAN EXPERIENCE.

Other web sites on Liberia:

Current News from Liberia, presented by "STAR RADIO." STAR RADIO is an independent radio station in Liberia, which is managed by Swiss NGO Foundation Hirondelle, and financed by the United States Agency for International Development, through the International Foundation for Elections Systems. The station began transmitting news since July 15, 1997 on FM 104 MHz in English, Liberian English, French, Bassa, Dey, Gbande, Gola, Grebo, Lorma, Kissi, Kpelle, Khran, Kru, Manndingo, Mano, and Vai.

British Broadcasting Service:--Focus on Africa.

Amnesty International: Documents on the Liberian -Civil War

Embassy of Liberia, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

Embassy of Cuttington University College.

Liberian Connection.

Ijoma Flemister's Fokpah Liberia Webspace

Africa Online "chat room":Liberia

Please e-mail all comments to:

SLAVE SHIP	U.S. WAR VESSEL	PlACE OF ARREST	DATE OF ARREST	# SENT TO LIBERIA
Antelope**	U.S. Cutter Dallas	Florida Coast	06-29-20	142 recaptured Africans
Bonito	USS San Jacinto	Congo River	10-10-60	734 ditto
Nightingle	USS Saratoga	Kabenda	4-21-61	801 ditto
Erie	USS Mohican	Congo River	08-08-60	867 ditto
Storm King	USS San Jacinto	Congo River	08-08-60	616 ditto
Pons	USS Yorktown	Kabenda	12-45	756 ditto
Minerva, Perle, and Teresa	Columbian vessel	Grand Bassa	1826	53 ditto
unknown	Schooner Randolph	U.S. waters	1828	62 ditto
unlisted	unlisted	unlisted	1820-1866	997 ditto
Slavship Cora	U.S.S Constellation	Ambriz River, Congo	1860	700 ditto
Total	----	----	----	5,728 recaptured Africans

Names	Age	Profession	Location
John Leone	37	Servant	Montserrado
Peter Bartlett	22	Farmer	New Georgia
Peter Habersham	39	Farmer	New Georgia
Boston Walburg	41	Farmer	New Georgia
Edward Berrien	38	Farmer	New Georgia
Jack Gool	29	Farmer	New Georgia
Peter Gool	20	Farmer	New Georgia
Primus Barton	40	Farmer	New Georgia
Joseph Smith	48	Farmer	New Georgia
Caesar Russwurm	46	Farmer	New Georgia
Samuel Paul	39	Farmer	New Georgia
Pepper Smith	29	Farmer	New Georgia
Alexander Bartlett	29	Farmer	New Georgia
James Young	38	Farmer	New Georgia
Peter Smith	21	Farmer	New Georgia
Monday Dozier	43	Farmer	New Georgia
July Habersham	40	Farmer	New Georgia
Smart Purvis	50	Farmer	New Georgia
George Marshall	35	Farmer	New Georgia
Moses Kinsley	37	Farmer	New Georgia
Jack Bond	37	Farmer	New Georgia
Charlotte Madison	50	Farmer	New Georgia
George Wallace	unknown	Farmer	New Georgia

Origin of African-Americans	Number sent to Liberia
Alabama	105
Barbados	346
California	1
Connecticut	55
Deleware	9
District of Columbia	109
Georgia	1,147
Illinois	65
Indiana	56
Indian Territory	7
Iowa	5
Kentucky	675
Louisiana	309
Maryland	1,580
Massachuttes	60
Michigan	1
Mississippi	551
Missouri	83
New Jersey	77
New York	295
North Carolina	1,371
Ohio	56
Pennsylvania	319
Rhode Island	36
South Carolina	460
Tennessee	726
Texas	16
Virginia	3,372
Wisconsin	7
Total	12,288