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Liberia was a colony for freed and freeborn African Americans for twenty-five years before becoming the first republic on the African continent in 1847. Today, Liberia is recovering from over twenty years of violence, which include seven years of civil war (1989-1996). From depleted iron ore mines to enviable diamond reserves, from indiscriminate logging to the world's largest rubber plantation, from the shrieking pepper bird to the docile pygmy hippopotamus, this book is a spirited investigation of the sharp contrasts that define the Liberian land and its people. Book jacket.
Tells the story of "Chucky" Taylor, a young American who lost his soul in Liberia, the country where his African father was a ruthless warlord and dictator.
"In this utterly depressing account of the west African nation's history and politics, scholar and diplomat Pham offers a cautionary tale regarding Western intervention in Africa. Colonized by free American blacks in the early 19th century, Liberia has long been beset by tensions, not only among its native populations but between natives and the descendants of its Western colonizers. But Pham is no knee-jerk blame-the-West critic- far from it. As he points out, Western investment, by Firestone and other rubber companies, "served as the principal catalyst for Liberia's infrastructure." The author does, however, acknowledge that the workers were paid little for the labor that enriched the rubber companies, and that tribal chiefs were given a cut for the toil of their villagers. Liberia's worst times have come in the past two decades, with rampant corruption and civil war. In Pham's eyes, nation-states have failed, in Liberia and elsewhere in Africa, for a variety of reasons: tribal and ethnic tensions and the end of the Cold War, which allowed weak states propped up by the superpowers to tumble. Pham argues that these states must take responsibility for their own reconstruction and reconstitution as democratic nations, without Western intervention, if they are ever to emerge from their current struggle"--from Publisher's Weekly, quoted on amazon.com.
When wealthy Mississippi cotton planter Isaac Ross died in 1836, his will decreed that his plantation, Prospect Hill, should be liquidated and the proceeds from the sale be used to pay for his slaves' passage to the newly established colony of Liberia in western Africa. Ross's heirs contested the will for more than a decade, prompting a deadly revolt in which a group of slaves burned Ross's mansion to the ground. But the will was ultimately upheld. The slaves then emigrated to their new home, where they battled the local tribes and built vast plantations with Greek Revival-style mansions in a region the Americo-Africans renamed “Mississippi in Africa.” In the late twentieth century, the seeds of resentment sown over a century of cultural conflict between the colonists and tribal people exploded, begetting a civil war that rages in Liberia to this day. Tracking down Prospect Hill's living descendants, deciphering a history ruled by rumor, and delivering the complete chronicle in riveting prose, journalist Alan Huffman has rescued a lost chapter of American history whose aftermath is far from over.
Liberian citizenship has been restricted to people of African descent since the country declared its independence in 1847. In 2018, President George Weah called that restriction "racist" and called for the Constitution to be changed. In urging extension of Liberian citizenship to non-blacks, Pres. Weah said, the limitation may have been "appropriate for the 19th century, and for the threats and conditions that existed at that time. However, here in the 21st century, I am of the view that these threats no longer exist." But as Weah was speaking many of those historic "threats and conditions" were reemerging in the West. Support surged for anti-immigrant political parties and candidates. Mounting restrictions are directed mainly at people of color, especially those of African descent. Who is a Liberian? What rights and responsibilities should citizens have? These are some of the critical questions facing Liberians, given the destruction to citizenship and nationalism wrought by the war. These questions can't be ignored or postponed. They are key to fixing the country's politics and economy. They require a dialogue among today's Liberians before expanding citizenship to others. To do otherwise would be an invitation to disaster. This book reviews the history of citizenship and nationality in Liberia, including the origin of the "Negro Clause." Here are some highlights: Liberia, at its founding, was "a nationality in search of a nation." Due to Samori Touré's incursions and the European Scramble for Africa, the country shifted from a loose confederation of ethnic groups to a state with tight borders. As a result of globalization and the Civil War, Liberians are functioning less as citizens and more like clients of "big men" in politics and other spheres. The role of women as guardians of public morality was evident toward the end of the war when a group known as Women Crusaders for Peace played a critical role in shaming male leaders of warring factions to engage in negotiations.
Explores the history of the colony, later the independent nation of Liberia, which was established on the west coast of Africa in 1822 as a haven for free African-Americans.
Discusses the economy, geography, government, people, cultural life, and history of Liberia.