Cultural & Ethnic Studies Race Identity and Choice Black Voices on Liberia and the American

100 Chapter Race , Identity , and Choice Black Voices on and the American Colonization Society Thomas Rocky Mountain College of Art Design Introduction Africa Republic of began as a colony founded by the of Africans who were born both free and enslaved in the Americas . From the 18205 through 18405 , the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America transported thousands of formerly enslaved African Americans to the coast of West Africa . The American Colonization Society ( as it was more commonly known , was established by White Americans , not African Americans , and controlled the colony of until 1847 . The general historical narrative often treats with glasses tinted with American . As Africa first independent nation of the modern era , very name derives from its national motto The Love of Liberty Brought Us Daniel Warner , who was born in Baltimore County , Maryland before immigrating to as a child , similarly described the country as a home of glorious liberty in national anthem . Highlighting its American roots , flag is even based on the flag of the United States , featuring alternating red and white stripes , and a blue canton with a white star Thomas , in Pictures ( Century Books , 2006 ) 69 .

101 In reality , the history and legacy of Liberian colonization is far more complicated . Not only did the leadership often embrace White supremacist ideals , but the founders of paid no heed to the region indigenous population whose land was taken for the colonial experiment . Historian goes so far as to call the an organization Not only was immigration to Africa sometimes involuntary , but the leaders of the emergent culture often repeated the sins of the United States , transporting White supremacist ideas about African culture instead of establishing the equality so greatly desired by African Americans in the United States . This chapter includes a variety of African American perspectives regarding and repatriation , with particular attention to Paul , James Forten , Martin , and Frederick . Additionally , it explores the lived experience of those African Americans who became part of the colony of and , later , the independent Republic of . Background The history of is not often included in American history and , when it is addressed , it is typically limited to the founding of the American Colonization Society in 1817 and the establishment of on January , 1822 . Those five years represent a narrow depiction of the American Colonization Society and the Liberian experiment . Among those who returned to Africa were recently emancipated slaves against their will as well as lifelong free men and women from both the North and South . Against Wind and The African American Struggle against the ( New York New York University Press ) 2014 .

102 This included wealthy Black entrepreneurs , who voluntarily went to establish new lives in their ancestral homeland . The history of the United States and continued well after the signing of the Liberian Declaration of Independence on July 26 , 1847 and includes Firestone rubber plantations , Hershey and Mars cocoa plantations , blood diamonds , and the conviction of Charles Taylor for crimes against humanity . While this chapter is about the lived experiences of African Americans , it is important to acknowledge the perceptions and motivations of White supporters of African repatriation . Laws governing slavery served to dehumanize African Americans for economic gain and to prevent the likelihood of organized rebellions . So , for many White , repatriation to Africa was touted as issue of public safety and the preservation of power . Their counterparts in the North similarly embraced the return of Black men and women to Africa , sometimes behind a facade of Christian morality , due to their own rejection of racial equality and social While they may have opposed slavery , many White abolitionists expressed horror at the very prospect of Black ' By colonizing , they saw an avenue to end slavery in America without having to address questions of racial equality or social integration with free Black men and women . Among Southern , the fear of servile was never absent from the minds of the people of the , Learning to Be White Money , Race and God in America ( New York Continuum Press , 1999 ) Richard Newman , Founders The Free Black Community in the Early Republic . Philadelphia The Library Company of Philadelphia , 2008 ) Joseph Carroll , in the United States , Boston Chapman and Grimes , 1938 ) 19 .

103 Conservatively , there were more than two hundred and fifty revolts involving more than ten slaves in American history . These numbers do not include individual acts of rebellion , smaller incursions , undocumented actions , or attempted that did not materialize . One of those revolts was Gabriel Rebellion in 1800 . After Gabriel plot was discovered , the government of Virginia briefly discussed repatriating Black Americans to Africa , an idea that would become the obsession of a prominent White Virginian , Charles Fenton Mercer , a decade It was in this environment that Black and White Americans both in the South and the North began discussing the repatriation of African Americans to West Africa . Ultimately , Robert Finley and Samuel . Mills , both of whom were influential White ministers , established the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America in Washington , on December 21 , 1816 . Just four years later , in 1820 , the American Colonization Society began transporting free African Americans to the coast of West Africa . African Americans and Repatriation to Africa America Black population had divergent opinions on repatriation . Some even supported a separate Black colony within continental territories . For example , in 1817 , free African Americans in Richmond , Virginia , asked the United States government to give Black families land west of the Mississippi River . However , the government feared Jason , The World that Fear Made and Conspiracy Scares in ca ( Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press , 2020 )

104 an alliance between Native Americans and African Americans , which would threaten White continental hegemony . To this end , Secretary Elias Caldwell rejected the practicability of colonization within the American continent , predicting alliances with Indians , or the nations bordering on our frontiers , in case of war and the likelihood that a Black Homeland would become the asylum of fugitives and runaway While an estimated thirteen percent of America Black population was free in the early nineteenth century , the population of free African Americans was not homogenous . There were free Black men and women in both the South and the North who had divergent levels of education and socioeconomic backgrounds . This chapter will explore the perspectives of four specific African American freedmen regarding the Liberian experiment Paul ( James ( Martin ( 1885 ) and Frederick ( These are the lived experiences of men who discussed , argued , and wrote to each other to understand better the and dangers of immigration to West Africa . It should be noted that these perspectives are limited by gender and economic Meeting of Free People of Color of Richmond , Virginia , 1817 , in William Lloyd Garrison , Thoughts on African Colonization or an impartial exhibition of the Doctrines Principles Purposes of the American Society . Together with Resolutions , Addresses of the Free People of Color ( Boston Garrison and , 1832 ) Matthew Mason , Slavery and Politics in the Early American Republic ( Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press , 2009 ) 113 . Frankie , Economic considerations in the American Colonization Society early effort to emigrate free blacks to , The Journal History , 1983 )

105 While the experiences of African Americans in agricultural labor are , at least ten percent of both enslaved and free Black labor was in maritime Born free in Massachusetts , Paul , for example , was one of the most acclaimed sailors of his generation . His mother was a member of the Nation , and his father was a member of Africa who was enslaved and brought to the auction block in Newport , Rhode Island . A successful mariner and devout Quaker , became focused on rescuing enslaved peoples from America and establishing a homeland in Africa which would also , it was believed , have the effect of bringing Christian faith and civilisation to the people of Note the dual motivation of rescuing enslaved Americans as well as bringing Christianity and civilization to West Africa . In 1811 , captained the ship an crew to Sierra Leone to explore the British colony and repatriate Black Loyalists who had fought against the United States during the American Revolution . Unfortunately , the War of 1812 interrupted his plans , but on December 10 , 1815 , set sail for Africa with free African American colonists . financed most of the expedition himself . Upon his return to the United States , he was recruited by Robert Finley and Samuel . Mills to share information with the newly formed American Colonization Like , James Forten was a successful Black businessman also engaged in maritime industries . A freeman from Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , Forten worked as a Jeffery Bolster , Jacks African American Seamen in the Age of ( Cambridge Harvard University Press ) 1997 . Paul Walker , Captain Paul ( African American Seafarer and Entrepreneur , Black Theology ( 2015 ) 222 .

106 privateer and in shipyards before becoming a successful sailmaker . He strongly opposed the American Colonization Society because he believed African Americans had a birthright to the United States , and he refused to abandon a nation built on the backs of the enslaved who had yet to taste freedom . Moreover , believed that the was disingenuous and had an ulterior motive They think that the slave holders wants sic to get rid of them so as to make their property more 11 A business supporter of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison , Forten convinced an initially vacillating Garrison to also oppose repatriation . Forten served as of Garrison American Society , which was open to both Black and White Americans , including prominent national figures like Susan Anthony , Samuel Cornish , and Elizabeth Cady Stanton . In addition , Forten daughters married the brothers of a prominent biracial abolitionist family in belonged to the same generation as Forten daughters . A free African American from Charles Town , Virginia ( now West Virginia ) coined the slogan Africa for After training as a physician assistant in Pittsburgh in 1850 , he became one of the first three Black students admitted to Harvard Medical School but was dismissed following complaints by White students . These experiences , combined with his firsthand witness of Southern slavery during an 1839 tour , influenced his advocacy of Black Nationalism , separation , and . While 11 Cited in Rosalind Cobb Wiggins , Captain Paul Logs and Letters , Washington , Howard University Press , 1996 ) 12 Julie Winch , The Making and Meaning of James Forten Letters from A Man of Colour , and Mary , 2007 )

107 worked alongside Frederick on the North Star newspaper , he has historically been characterized as a foil to the Assimilationist versus the At the same time , however , joined in opposing the American Colonization Society , arguing that the organization was one of the most arrant enemies of the colored man , ever seeking to discomfit him , and envying him of every privilege that he may would not only visit , he even negotiated a potential agreement between African Americans and the indigenous people of ( located in ) These plans would soon after be discarded with the outbreak of the Civil War . returned to the United States to fight against Confederates , becoming the first Black field grade officer of the United States Army . A decade following the war and the sustained failure of the United States to offer long overdue equality to Black Americans , resumed his advocacy for Liberian immigration , the South Exodus Joint Stock Steamship Unlike , Forten , and , Frederick was born into slavery . After successfully running away from Maryland , partnered with William Lloyd Garrison American Society and quickly emerged as one of the nation most eloquent and fierce orators against slavery as well as the racist motivations behind the 13 Robert Steven Levine , Martin , Frederick , and the Politics of Representative , Hill University of North Carolina Press , 1997 ) 14 Parker , Making Foreigners Immigration and , Law in America , New York Cambridge University Press , 2015 ) Olivia Waxman , Years Before the Send Her Back Chants , This Effort Tried to Send Free Black Americans Back , Time Magazine , July 22 , 2019 .

108 . While was a committed , he was also a fierce critic of the , including the discriminatory North where he lived , once saying to Garrison , I have no love for America , as such I have no patriotism . I have no country . What country have I ?

The Institutions of this country do not know not recognize me as a As much as he rejected America public facade as the birthplace of freedom , though , he believed that to abandon the United States by immigrating to Africa was to also abandon the millions of enslaved Black men and women in the The American Colonization Society recognized that the American Colonization Society ( was led by an eclectic partnership of Southern and Northern religious Although Robert Finley , a Presbyterian minister from New Jersey , later claimed credit for the idea of colonization , it is commonly believed that Finley organized the at the behest of his , Elias , who had been contacted by Charles Fenton Mercer ( some sources have misidentified the as John Caldwell ) Mercer had incidentally discovered that Virginia had once explored creating a colony for African Americans and became obsessed with colonization . Ultimately , Finley and Samuel . Mills of Connecticut established the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America in Washington , on December 21 , 15 John , et , The Frederick Papers Series Speeches , Debates , and Interviews , Vol . II ( New Haven Yale University Press , 1979 ) 57 . 15 Bjorn Southard , Peculiar Rhetoric Slavery , Freedom , and the African Colonization Movement ( Jackson University Press of Mississippi , 2019 ) 17 Douglas , Its Origin Is Not a Little Curious A New Look at the American Colonization Society , Journal of the Early Republic ( 1985 )

109 Four years later , in 1820 , the American Colonization Society began transporting free African Americans to the coast of West Africa . But , while the founders were both , its leaders were mostly slaveholding Southerners . Prominent supporters of the included Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Washington ( the nephew of President George Washington ) former President James Monroe , future president Abraham Lincoln , and Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky , who owned enslaved African Americans . Elias Caldwell , the Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States , and the of Robert Finley , became the Secretary of the American Colonization Society . One can still see the legacy of powerful White Americans etched onto maps of to this day , from its capital city ( named after President James Monroe ) to cities that include Buchanan ( named after Thomas Buchanan , cousin of President James Buchanan ) and ( named after Henry Clay Lexington , Kentucky , home and plantation that enslaved dozens of Black men and women ) 13 In 1820 , the population of the United States was approximately 10 million , including million African Americans . While African Americans heatedly debated the merits of the colonization movement , ultimately , African Americans emigrated in the early years of the Liberian colony . The first expedition of 1820 carried Black colonists to West Africa aboard the Elizabeth . Individual states also established 18 Winston Coleman , Henry Clay , Kentucky and , The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society , October , 1947 )

110 repatriation colonies along Africa Pepper Coast , many of which bore names , the Republic of Maryland , Kentucky in Africa , Mississippi in Africa , Louisiana , and two other colonies established by the Virginia Colonization Society and the Quaker Young Men Colonization Society of Pennsylvania . These would later be annexed by the Republic of over subsequent decades . In total , by the start of the Civil War in 1860 , approximately Black men and women had emigrated from the United States to African American immigrants to included Isaac Wright ( Born enslaved in Baltimore , Maryland , Wright changed his name to Daniel Coker after escaping to New York , where he became a Methodist minister . Along with Richard Allen , he founded the American Methodist Episcopal ( AME ) Church . Coker was even offered the position of first Bishop of the AME Church but deferred to Numerous scholars have suggested that Coker was one of the two most strategic writers among the Black of the early nineteenth century , joining James Forten as a master of appealing to both Black and White While Forten was an ardent colonialist , Coker was open minded , even attending a lecture by Paul regarding 19 James , Tim , Svend , and Melissa Leach , American Exploration in Four Nineteenth Century Diaries ( Indiana University Press , 2003 ) 10 . James , Becoming African in America , New York Oxford University Press , 2009 ) 176 . 21 Richard Newman , Patrick , and Phillip , Pamphlets of Protest An Anthology of Early Protest Literature , New York , 2013 ) 10 .

111 the British colony of Sierra Leone . While Coker was originally against colonization , he eventually repatriated to Africa after a fallout with Richard Allen . He joined the first expedition of the American Colonization Society that settled in British Sierra Leone before had negotiated with the indigenous West Africans for the land that eventually became He would spend the next two decades as one of Africa first and most prolific Methodist Another colonial missionary was Edward Jones ( who was born a freeman in Charleston , South Carolina , to Jehu and Abigail Jones . His father was a freedman and successful tailor , real estate investor , and hotel owner . After becoming the first Black graduate from College , Jones travelled to as a missionary before permanently settling in the British colony of Sierra Jones interest in Africa was shared by Louis Sheridan ( from nearby County , North Enslaved at birth , he was given his freedom as a young child by Joseph , who was likely his Sheridan became a highly successful businessman and a personal friend with John Owen , the former Governor of North Carolina . A White 22 Willard , To Be Truly Free Louis Sheridan and the Colonization of , Civil War History , 1983 ) 160 . 23 Thomas , Exodus and Colonization Charting the Journey in the Journals of Daniel Coker , a Descendant of Africa , rican American Review , 2007 ) 519 . 24 Mac and Cole , New Perspectives on the Sierra Leone ( New York Peter Lang Publishing , 2006 ) 95 . 25 , 160 . 25 Claude Andrew , The Price of ( Hill University of North Carolina Press , 1999 ) 153 . 27 Catherine , Sheridan , Thomas ( ca . in North Carolina Architects Builders ( Raleigh North Carolina State University Libraries , 2009 )

112 contemporary commented that Sheridan was honored and esteemed by all who know Ironically , Sheridan owned several enslaved African Americans , though he once famously said , I would die tomorrow to be free Originally opposed to colonization , Sheridan position changed after the passage of new laws by the North Carolina legislature targeting free African Americans . By the , Sheridan had immigrated to Africa along with his former slaves . Perhaps the most successful Southern immigrant to , however , was Joseph Jenkins ( Born free in Virginia , inherited his stepfather shipping business that utilized along the James River . After moving to West Africa as a young man , he became the first African American Governor of in 1841 and , seven years later , the nation first Given the prominent role of Henry Clay in advocating the colonization movement , it is no surprise that African Americans from Kentucky played a prominent role in history , serving not only as leaders of colonial but other colonies such as Kentucky in Africa . Alfred Francis Russell ( for instance , was born into slavery in Lexington , Kentucky , as the son of an enslaved woman and a White man . Indeed , Russell was only 16 African and would have been legally considered White in many states , but not in Kentucky . In 1833 , a Russel and his family were emancipated they voluntarily moved to the same year . Another , William Coleman ( also immigrated to with his family as a child , and would go on to serve the African nation as the Speaker of the House of 28 , 160 . 29 , 158 .

113 Representatives and its thirteenth president . His presidency was succeeded by another descendant of Black , Arthur , whose family had fled the United States during the Civil Like their Southern counterparts , Northern immigrants to included prominent and financially successful Black families . Edward James , for instance , was born a freeman in Newark , Ohio , in 1815 , as a . His father died with a significant insurance policy , and became instantly very wealthy . Following his immigration to , he would serve as the nation Chief Justice and , later , president . One of the most Black figures was John Brown ( 1851 ) who had been born in Jamaica to an English father and an enslaved African woman . With his father , moved to Canada before settling in the United States . After becoming College first Black graduate , published the first African American newspaper , Freedoms Journal , in New York City with Samuel Eli Cornish . The duo published numerous articles opposing the colonization movement . However , eventually had a change of heart regarding and wrote that though some may be suspicious of the motives , still , all who know me will do me the justice to say , that the change in my views was arising from a correction of error in my former He would subsequently spend the rest of his life in West Africa , where Charles Henry , The Political and Legislative History of , Vol . I ( New York Central Book Company , 1947 ) 836 .

114 he edited The Herald newspaper before becoming governor of the nearby colony of Maryland in Unfortunately , in the written record of Black perspectives regarding and the American Colonization Society , the voices of Black women are largely missing from the historical narrative . Mary Ann , for instance , was the first female Black publisher in North America and served as a leader of the abolitionist movement , but her exact views on repatriation are unclear . Similarly , the Forten daughters were prominent members of the abolitionist movement , but whether the sisters held the same attitudes as their father is unknown . While Anna Erskine is mentioned in history , her place in history seems relegated to her status as the granddaughter of Liberian President James Payne and as the partner of the renowned Liberian writer and diplomat Edward . However , as historian Leslie Alexander notes , while the elite White and Black leadership of the and West African colonies may have been entrenched in a patriarchal system that devalued the political voices of women , Black women of the era no doubt held the same myriad of perspectives on the virtues or limitations on repatriation to Africa as their male counterparts . While Black abolitionists from Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth to Sarah Redmond and Charlotte Forten are well known , we also know that there were scores of unnamed women who embraced Black Nationalism . These women participated in celebrations of their African heritage throughout the in New York City Black pride parades that featured African 31 James Winston , The Struggles of John Brown The Life and Writings of a st Pioneer , New York New York University Press , 2010 ) 46 .

115 music , clothing , colors , and That some would also support the Liberian colonization experiment is not a far With a few notable exceptions , absent from the history of the American Colonization Society are also the voices of poor African Americans who either did not voluntarily choose immigration or did not rise their status in . When Isaac Ross , for example , posthumously dissolved his plantation , he freed three hundred enslaved men and women , and the proceeds of the sale were designated to fund their transportation to No one asked the three hundred now free men and women their views on colonization . In one historians examination of thriving colonial movement among slave owners , he found that many enslaved people were adverse to accepting freedom with the stipulation that they be deported to West Africa , a land rife with uncertainties that would also separate them from family members in the . Upon arrival , many working class African Americans complained of the lack of access to farming tools , supplies to build homes , and an overabundance of snakes . One Kentucky emigrant to wrote home to an acquaintance , warning , I can not as a friend recommend him to come out 32 Leslie Alexander , African ?

Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City , Champaign University of Illinois Press , 2011 ) 23 , 51 for more on Black Nationalist support for African repatriation movements in the twentieth century , see Keisha Blain , Set the World on Fire Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom ( Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press , 2018 ) 33 Alan , Mississippi in The Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in ( Jackson University Press of Mississippi , 2004 ) 34 Coleman , 319 .

116 As previously noted , the motivations behind African American immigration to West Africa were diverse . Many had no say in their deportation , as the terms of their manumission from slavery mandated their relocation to Africa . Others , like John and Martin , embraced Black Nationalist ideals that rejected potential for racial equality and viewed complete separation from the as the only way to obtain a future for Black families . Some , like Daniel Coker and Edward Jones , saw Africa as ripe ground for Christian missionary work among native The increasingly oppressive laws of the 18305 targeting free African Americans in the wake of Nat Turner rebellion drove some , such as Louis Sheridan , to abandon the South for . Southern governments also put limits on the ability of Southerners to manumit enslaved African Americans . Some states banned the practice of manumission in wills , and others required state legislatures to approve all manumission . Approval of manumission frequently required immigration , so the choice offered was continued enslavement or deportation . Journalist Baker described as founded by American statesmen in 1820 and populated , forcibly by some accounts , with former Whether it was called repatriation , immigration , or colonization , it was often a false , or forced , freedom for many African Americans . At the same time that the reached its height of popularity among White elites , those same figures within state legislatures and the federal government were also ordering the removal of Native American populations from the South . Examining the Indian Removal Acts 35 , Edward Jones An African American in Sierra Leone , in John , Moving On Black in the World ( New York , 1999 )

117 with the simultaneous repatriation of African Americans to , it was clear that Europeans were not welcome in White However important it is to emphasize race , one can not ignore the reality of classism and a loss of political ascendancy . While early America was unquestionably a racially prejudiced society , it was also a society . Indeed , many of the Founding Fathers supported a conservative definition of enfranchisement that solidified the political power of property owners . The established socioeconomic class , having secured and extended their political power were not interested in diluting their ascendancy with poor White men , let alone women , Jews , Catholics , Native Americans , or African Americans . While Black opponents of colonization like Forten and tried to elevate American politics to include African Americans , colonists like Sheridan and were , in many ways , preserving their wealth and escaping freedom . Conclusion I And yet , as Sheridan once said , I would die tomorrow to be free Regardless of his financial success and property ownership , Sheridan recognized the formidable uphill battle to obtain citizenship in the United States . American laws , as as they may have been , were even more racist . The movement towards democracy in the and for the common man led to an expansion of the franchise and political opportunities to working class White men , while at the same time limiting opportunities for Black men . Indeed , many and 35 Baker , Why the Has a Special Responsibility to Help with Ebola , Time Magazine . September 17 , 2014 .

118 class Black men who could vote prior to the saw themselves disenfranchised by the , regardless of their financial security and property ownership . As one of the nation most successful Black men , John was desperate to escape the suffocatingly racist environment of the United States a reading of the American social and political landscape that told him that the North , as well as the South , was incapable of supporting the growth of a strong and dignified Black populace enjoying the benefits of full 37 Joseph Jenkins Roberts and the younger immigrants who left for in the company of older family members certainly made the most of their new opportunities in However , in , the elite too often created what historian James calls Another America based upon the plantation system and the exploitation of indigenous and even Ironically , the often African Americans immigrants to West Africa were often perceived as White by the native people of the region but Black by European The colonial era was marred by constant warfare between the elite and indigenous people from the nation interior , especially from and ethnic groups . Perhaps most tellingly , the region indigenous people were denied citizenship status , 37 Winston , 48 . 38 Brandon Mills , The United States of Africa , Journal of the Early Republic , 34 ( 2014 ) 39 , Robert Murray , Race , Mobility , and Liberian ( University Press of Florida 2021 )

119 which included the right to vote , until The dominated the political and economic systems of for more than a hundred years . From 1848 to 1980 , almost all of twenty presidents were from the class of men who were both and financially successful ( including two members of the family of Kentucky ) The only exception was Edward James . While was a wealthy African American , he was and not . Some historians have speculated that it was lack of status that caused him to be overthrown by the nation elite as President of on October 26 , 1871 , prior to his mysterious death the following The South and Vice President of , James Smith , completed term . Even well into the twentieth century Black Nationalists like Marcus and Amy Jacques Garvey maintained a utopian vision of as a haven for black men and women throughout the , while simultaneously viewing the nation marginalized indigenous population as who needed African American missionaries , intellectuals , and businessmen to bring them Christianity , commerce , and The final indigenous Liberian revolt against the elite descendants of African Americans occurred on April 12 , 1980 . Master Sergeant Samuel Doe , a member of the 41 Harold Nelson , a . A Country ( Washington , United States Government , 1984 ) 42 Elwood Dunn , Amos , Carl Patrick , Historical Dictionary of ( Maryland Scarecrow Press , 2000 ) 80 . 43 Everett Jenkins , Chronology ' A Comprehensive Reference to the Black Quest for Freedom in , the Americas , Europe and Asia , Jefferson , North Carolina , 2015 ) 436 . 44 Blain , 106 .

120 ethnic group , led sixteen indigenous officers into the presidential palace , killing President William Richard and others . One of the few members of the Cabinet not executed was Ellen Johnson , who was , not coincidentally , one of the only indigenous members within the administration . would spend the rest of her life seeking reconciliation and peace for a nation long afflicted with tension between its indigenous citizens and the descendants of African American immigrants . She would eventually not only be awarded a Nobel Peace prize for her efforts , but would become Africa first elected female head of Discussion Questions . What did Louis Sheridan , a free and wealthy Southern African American , mean when he said in 1836 , I would die tomorrow to be free today ?

Discuss the various motivations behind African American immigration to West Africa . How was the American Colonization Society ?

What motivations did both Northern abolitionists and Southern share in the organization ?

Writing Prompt 45 Benjamin Dennis and Anita Dennis , Slaves to Racism An Unbroken Chain from America to ( New York Publishing , 2008 ) 121 ) For further research , consider scholars Benjamin Dennis and Anita Dennis argument that the replicated the patriarchy and racist society of the American South when creating the Republic of . Identify the merits of this argument , and well as the ways that ways nineteenth century Antebellum American and were different .