Black Diaspora and the Founding of Liberia - Research Paper Example

? THE BLACK DIASPORA AND THE FOUNDING OF LIBERIA Black Diaspora and the Founding of Liberia The term ‘diaspora’ has been used in defining the movement of people - from their homeland; a small geographic location - who have been scattered due to some ethno-political reason. The case under discussion is of the black or African diaspora that resulted in the foundation of Liberia. Located in the west coast of Africa, Liberia is bordered by Guinea in the north, Atlantic Ocean in the south, Ivory Coast in the east and Sierra Leone in the west. Its capital, Monrovia was named after the American president James Monroe in 1822 when Liberia was founded by the American Colonization Society (ACS).1 The founding members, who were black Americans, were aided by the ACS to settle back in their homeland. The settlement process was not easy because the locals in Africa did not welcome the Americans since they feared some sort of invasion. The issue of racism was already making Africans suspect American motives. Being the second largest minority in America, these blacks had been given opportunities such as educating themselves despite the growing stress among the white elite. The forefathers had fought with tremendous efforts to fulfill the dreams on which Liberia was brought to reality. 2 The role United States in Liberia is strong because of its historic ties. The American companies made use of the natural resources, rubber in particular, enjoying their rights through exploitation. Liberia also served the US major strategic interest of hosting security and communication amenities during Cold War. Their interest also included setting up one of the largest Voice of America relay stations in Liberia including an Omega Navigation Tower that tracked the movement of ships and planes. Hence Americans have greatly influenced the country not knowing much about it. It is because of this reason that the “diasporic blacks have borne witness to and warned of the full meaning of white supremacy.”3 They have somehow gotten used to the subordination posited by whites over many centuries despite the difference in ethnicity and language among blacks. People like Malcolm X and Du Bois made conscious efforts to lift the spirits of the Africans in general by speaking of human rights and their identity. According to these people, the strength of the blacks lay in their own hands and not in the hands of whites. African Americans belonged to Africa and their movement from America to Liberia was expected to be the result of their freedom and not their further enslavement. The journey to the founding of Liberia is a long one and captures the vision of the elders of African America who eliminated the differences within the African community that still comprises of a variety of languages and cultures. They wanted to see Africa as a whole, united in its dream. Hence the term ‘Pan-Africanism’ has been coined. It is the ‘political project’ to allow those in African diaspora to return by way of unification of all the Africans in a single African state4 the intellectual roots of the movement strongly lie in the racial conception of Africa by its founders, the African American and the Afro-Caribbean intellectuals. Pan-Africanism aimed to challenge the anti-black racism on two fronts since it started off from the New World among the slave descendants spreading back to Africa. Firstly, in the diaspora it condemned racial domination and secondly it also challenged the colonial domination which eventually seemed to have taking a racial form in Africa alone. The great divide in the movement is mainly due to the “stresses and strains” caused by the aforementioned goals which pull it in different directions.5 Liberia eventually grew into a colony and then a commonwealth nation. It achieved independence in 1847 with the help of the American Colonization Society. It was not until the 1980 that the descendents of freed slaves, also known as Americo-Liberians, got away with the socio-political control of the country.6 Being a black in America has never been the same as being a white. The experience is altogether different from the rest of the foreign cultures introduced in the United States. A black activist in America, according to Professor James was a huge challenge as it had a strong impact on the white society because of the age old notion of them being savages. They were deliberately excluded from the narrative of Western progress because this reason.7 Liberia was recognized as having a hierarchical system with four different castes. At the top were the light-complexioned Americo-Liberians known as the Mulattos. Next came a darker skinned caste which mainly comprised laborers and farmers. Then there were Congos who were recaptives aboard the US-bound slave ship. Indigenous Africans filled the bottom of the hierarchy. However, over the period of time these castes molded into a single Americo-Liberian or the Congos.8 The idea of a trained black community arose from a missionary theological writer, Samuel Hopkins, who intended to make a missionary effort in Africa by way of training the natives in the United States so that they may return to their land civilized and ready to settle according to the ways thought out by Hopkins. Colonization was in many ways a missionary task which it quite a “benevolent project”. Hence the method of carrying out the plans was very much private and was done on a small scale. There was definitely a plan of colonization behind Thomas Jefferson’s plea to end slavery and allow the blacks to visit and enjoy their own lands. There was indeed evil arising from the slavery through which the Americans were benefiting. They did not know the anger they were breeding among the natives of Africa who learnt what was being done to their brothers abroad.9 Thomas Jefferson was determined to colonize Africa because he feared God and wanted to do something for humanity so that the racial discrimination prevailing among the whites in the United States got eliminated altogether. He wanted to end the cruelty faced by the slaves and was deeply distressed by the slave selling mafia. His missionary scheme was silenced by the people of Sierra Leone and in other regions where attempts were made half-heartedly.10 However this dream eventually took form and Liberia got its independence successfully. The blacks brought back with them a taste of American influence in the land while retaining some of its own cultural impact on the indigenous Africans. With a small Muslim population and a very few following the indigenous religion, Liberia mainly practiced Christianity since most of the people resumed the missionary purpose.11 Its political system comprised of legislative and an executive branch. With president as the head of the executive branch, there were a 30-seats Senate and a 64-seats House of Representative in the legislative branch. The government of Liberia was dominated by the Americo-Liberians but the growing interest seemed to involve more and more indigenous Liberians in the progress of the nation’s future. The system of government in Liberia however got disrupted in the late 20th century. The descendants of African American in particular and the Liberians in general were not only marginalized but also displaced. Many fled the country after the civil war in 1990 and settled in Australia.12 Liberia had a very short lived peace environment another civil war broke in between 1997 and 2003. The UN imposed sanctions of the Liberian government which included the ban of arms importation. The high-ranking members of the government were not allowed to travel including their immediate families and “blood diamonds” trade was also banned. The president of Liberia, Charles Taylor at that time was held as war criminal and sent to Nigeria in asylum. He played the legendary role of a rebel leader. Hence, the process of colonial movement started to wrap up with the founding of yet another colony.13 Colonization came with a price that every ruler, who came forward to rectify the matters in Liberia, had to pay. It has been looked upon with unjustified apathy. Its achievements and its historical significance do not deserve this kind of indifference. The present condition of Liberia is indeed extremely discouraging and insufficient for some people. It is a major contrast of life and the treasures on which people lavish upon in Liberia as compared to the American life. There were another group of people hoping for the slavery to end without any bloodshed and civil war but it did happen and it took away the major interest on the land. Some are still hoping for a solution to the Negro problem while they increase in number every day. The voice of contempt “is always a proof of ignorance”. Historically speaking Liberia is the “embodiment of a number of ideas, efforts, principles, any one of which ought to secure at the least our respect, if not our sympathy and enthusiasm.”14 Innes, however, simply pronounces the colony of Liberia belonging to the Negroes who have been ‘transported’ from America to the coast of Africa. Slave-trade was increasingly considered an evil act. There was a point in American history that slaves were bought and settled with a conscious effort of making use of their labor. This was back in the early 17th century when the first cargo of slaves arrived Virginia and it was highly condemned by the legislature of the colony even back then. 15 The American Colonization Society started taking shape in the late 18th century with the encouragement from Jefferson and many others who were against slave-trade. They were eager to colonize the coloured race and hence voluntarily took off for the Africas in search of a place to settle the blacks. It was the black diaspora that eventually resulted in the founding of the country Liberia. The complexity of the slave-trade was such that despite some people’s rejection to move to Liberia, there was a strong urge to do otherwise. The blacks were made to believe in a homeland after they were brought and used in a new nation. These blacks of America were made to believe in the idea of nationalism and only they could bring a change in their own home country because they have had the taste of a better culture. This was how the colonial power had always worked for the Americans and even the Europeans. Africa was one place for the blacks that provided the base for their nationalism “from New York to Kingston, London to Monrovia, from Port of Spain to Accra” with the help of these people and their ideas, bringing forth the identity of the diaspora.16 The movement of the blacks from United States was not an easy one as several people died on their way to Africa. Because of the lack of development in communication and limited resources from America, only a few could survive and reach the coast of Africa where they had to face another threat that of the native people. With the passage of time the size of the Americo-Liberian population grew, although not much, playing an important role of influencing the American policy. This was extremely significant because of the presence of many blacks from the diaspora. These blacks were eventually expected to develop and groom their own community as they had acquired the habits of work from the former ruling nation such as Europe and America.17 America was instrumental in establishing Liberia. Unfortunately the Americans were keener on achieving their political, economic and security interests in the garb of freeing the African Americans. However, they eventually gave a place for the slaves to practice and pave their lives in a pattern they wanted to live. The ancestors faced many challenges in forming their own country both externally and internally. The US continues to provide financial, political, humanitarian and occasionally military support to Liberia to this day. Despite the coloured people living here, Liberia has a strong cultural mark of United States. Liberia was forced to declare independence because of a series of events which included the British seizure of a Liberian ship suspecting that it was secretly continuing slave-trade. The donations to American Colonization Society were reduced because a sudden Panic of 1836 when United States went into a financial crisis, causing a halt in the progress of Liberian government.18 It can be recorded from the history that United States never fails its project nor claims its failure at any cost. Even though it was not the first to recognize Liberia as independent due to political reasons, it admitted its lasting impact on the country. Monroe, the president of Liberia pronounced it as a “little black America destined to shine gemlike in the darkness of vast Africa”.19 More can be said about the country through the experiences of various intellectuals who have come to play a strong role in the building of Liberia. The first African American to have studied in Cambridge University and the first intellectual to have lived the longest in Liberia, Alexander Cromwell had a vision that Africa would be the motherland of the Negro race. In one of his lectures given on Independence Day of Liberia he argued: “…that African Americans who had been “exiled” in slavery to the New World had been given by divine providence “at least this one item of compensation, namely, the possession of the Anglo-Saxon tongue.” Similarly he argued for the providential nature of the transmission of Christianity to Negro slaves, and that it was the duty of “free colored men” in America to convert their ancestral continent to Christianity…he also expressed with great clarity the underlying racial basis of his understanding of Negro identity. There he defined a race as “a compact, homogeneous population of one blood ancestry and lineage,” and argued that each race had certain “determinate proclivities,” which manifested themselves in the behavior of its members.”20 In order to deeply understand the Negro-ism of Africa in general and Liberia in particular one needs to go back in time when the African Americans had yet to invade the land of Liberia. There lived great kingdoms such as Ghana, Mali and Songhai in the Upper Guinea Coast as well as the Grain Coast, which is now Liberia. Several ethnic groups were left behind as these kingdoms fell. Linguistically they were divided into three groups according to the anthropologists, namely Mande, Mel and Kru. It was under the leaders of these groups that the African Americans sought refuge and also fought bravely because these indigenous tribes were a warring people. These people were also indulged in secret societies in which they trained and groomed their adolescents. Because of such major cultural clashes, the African Americans felt a contrast in their own lives as compared to the natives. 21They set up their own government justifying that excluding the natives would be wise since they were not civilized enough to be leaders.22 The Americo-Liberians were wealthy and spoke with a lilt that sounded like West Indian calypso. Their servants were very poor and could not vote since they were drawn from the indigenous tribes. The behavior of the Americo Liberians towards the indigenous people was like any other ruling class. They had a tendency of living like Europeans or Americans. The class conflict in Liberia was increasingly frustrating and disturbed the intellectuals. The natives were more fun to be around as they were more natural according to the late black American actor Davis. To him the Africans or the black people were morally superior to whites in term of dealing with each other. He observed that this was not the case with the Americo-Liberians who pretended as if they were the slaveholders in their own land.23 The new native settlers brought several skills to the land such as cotton spinning, cloth weaving, sorghum and rice cultivation and iron smelting. The new settlers had everything American about them. Even the flag of Liberia resembles that of the United States. Even the official residence of the president of Liberia had a remarkable influence of architecture from the American South. The multifaceted culture of Liberia displayed a sense of unity among the people living in it. There were many different responses for the establishment of a black community. The ACS had successfully displaced the black from their territory. It was for this reason that they were considered a racist organization. The founding fathers of this society wanted to civilize the blacks in their own land, that is, Africa. The Americans were after all immigrants from Europe. Their superiority clearly indicated that they were not ready to tolerate the blacks in their part of the world. Monrovia, the capital of Liberia had started to be considered the “American place”. Even in those times, there were white abolitionists like William Garrison who led a campaign against the American Colonization Society because he thought that “Liberia was conceived in blood and its footprints will be marked with… the blood of the poor native”.24 Liberia was founded by freed-slaves of the United States. This factual statement is used by several scholarly articles as a starting point of the criticism. But Liberians did not want to be called or placed in the slave section.25 In order to make things better in the newly found Liberia, the Americo-Liberians attempted to improve the education system. This was a temporary success because later on with the collapse of the economic basis to maintain the political and social development the educational infrastructure was also affected. In 1831 ACS first set up the Western educational system in Liberia. However it is considered one of the least literate of the English-Speaking African countries. There is a dire need for qualified teachers and proper administration in order to improve the system. Because of lack of eagerness to learn, the schools are gravely affected.26 Liberia, as mentioned above is a great opportunity for the people of Africa as it has been offered by the more ‘civilized’ countries to the black diaspora. One can also observe that it has not been easy for the Americo-Liberians to find a place for themselves among the indigenous population. America is still exploiting the natural resources within the country. But they also provided the kind of shelter that was needed for the survival of the Liberians. The desire to rise above slavery has been there in the black race for quite some time. Even in works of literature such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, the author reflects that the blacks are hopeful to go to their homeland where they can use their energy and self-force to make themselves recognized a separate entity. Stowe’s stance generated a remarkable heat among the black community debating whether they should support her ideas or not. The optimistic tone in her novel made it possible for many Africans to take the first stand and move their entire family to Africa.27 The characters are shown to be planning to move to the newly found nation Liberia. This must be a coincidence that a work of literature was acting as a protagonist in reality for the blacks to be encouraged in this long journey that lay ahead of them. The Congos must realize that they may not have lived the American experience but they surely can live the Liberian dream. The Congos who now dominate Liberia and the mentality that prevails therein is not only a part of Liberia but also an integral part of the Liberians living in the Diaspora. The founding of Liberia has given birth to several possibilities for the Americans to begin trade and expansion on a new land although it is quite a challenge since the natives are a warring people, the reason which give them a title of ‘savages’. It needs to be recalled that the main aim to bring these freed slaves back to their homeland was Thomas Jefferson’s dream. Hence the Christian faith was consciously introduced by the Americo-Liberians who established themselves in the newly found land. This became a requirement to become citizens in the land of Liberia even by the indigenous people. The Western values were imposed on traditional African society in such a manner that the majority of the population that is dominated by Congos has sharpened the country and the divide between the Congos and Americo-Liberians. It is because the natives have never been considered equal to the immigrants that the clash remains to this day. The Americo-Liberians treated their fellow Africans just as they were treated as slaves in North America. In a way it was a catharsis of its own kind. But the problem was that the Africans or the indigenous people did not want to change. There was a constant battle among themselves on immature matters which resulted in severe chaos and bloodshed.28 History has taught mankind several lessons, one of which being that of helplessness in the face of colonization. With the stronger nations in control of the matter there is absolutely no way that any nation like Liberia can escape the initial trouble that it had to face including the Africans who had been transported from America in a polite way of getting rid of the black race. The American Colonization Society played a vital role in aiding the Americo-Liberians in establishing themselves in the newly found land. The history of Liberia prior to their arrival was worst enough for them to handle. The chieftains and their tribes with their own set of values and religions was a reflection of America itself as it fought to discover itself amidst the Red Indians and various other minorities which included blacks. The attitude towards the black population in America was very brutal and the civil wars that were fought for this cause are also very painful to recall. However, Liberia allowed the blacks to recollect their experience as a whole and imagine Africa as a single unit instead of a set of numerous tribes with their own priorities. This vision has allowed them to prosper as much as they have. But the unfortunate part of this discovery is the downfall in the education system which has caused the entire country to come to a halt. The materiality of history is literally scattered all over Liberia with historical monuments erected all over the place. Secret societies play a more important role than the development of the nation into light.29 Liberia remains in wilderness as nations surrounding it continue to prosper. There is violence and democracy prevailing in Liberia which leaves several critics and historicists wondering as how Liberians survive in the first place. The local men take pride in combating with the pioneers, a mentality that still needs to be flushed from their brains. Bibliography Appiah, Kwame Anthony. 2005. Pan-Africanism. Oxford: Oxford University Press Bu?ttikofer, Johann, Henk Dop, and Phillip T. Robinson. 2013. Travel sketches from Liberia: Johann Buttikofer's 19th century rainforest explorations in West Africa : annotated English edition. Leiden: Brill. Chivallon, Christine, and Antoinette Tidjani Alou. 2011. The Black diaspora of the Americas: experiences and theories out of the Caribbean. Kingston [Jamaica]: Ian Randle Publishers. Davies, Carole Boyce. 2008. Encyclopedia of the African diaspora: origins, experiences, and culture. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Dennis, Peter. 2006. A Brief History of Liberia. The International Center for Transitional Justice. Innes, William. 1833. Liberia, or, The early history & signal preservation of the American colony of free Negroes on the coast of Africa. Edinburgh: Waugh & Innes. Johnson, Tarnue Carver. 2004. Education and social change in Liberia: new perspectives for the 21st century. Bloomington, Ind: AuthorHouse. McPherson, John Hanson Thomas. 1891. History of Liberia. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Mongrue, Jesse N. 2011. Liberia: America's footprint in Africa : making the cultural, social, and political connections. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, Inc. Moran, Mary H. 2006. Liberia: the violence of democracy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Powell, Timothy B. 2000. Ruthless democracy: a multicultural interpretation of the American renaissance. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Sherman, Frank. 2011. Liberia: the land, its people, history and culture. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: New Africa Press. Sidbury, James. 2007. Becoming African in America: race and nation in the early Black Atlantic. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sundiata, Ibrahim. 2004. Brothers and Strangers Black Zion, Black Slavery, 1914-1940. North Carolina: Duke University Press. Walton, Hanes, James Bernard Rosser, and Robert L. Stevenson. 2002. Liberian politics: the portrait by African American diplomat J. Milton Turner. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books. Williams, Gabriel I. H. 2002. Liberia: the heart of darkness : accounts of Liberia's civil war and its destabilizing effects in West Africa. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing. Read More