History of Liberia
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There are occasionally illustrations given. The work is divided into two parts, ancient and modern. Dr. John A. Simpson, who wrote the foreword for this work, has spent twenty years in Liberia. He has prayed in the Senate, was pastor of the First Methodist Episco¬ pal Church, of which the president was a member, has been honored with the Ph.D. by the College of Liberia, and is one of the few to receive the coveted degree of K. C. We are also greatly indebted to Dr. Nathaniel H. B. Cassel, president of the College of Liberia; the late Bishop A. B. Camphor; Bishop I. B. Scott, who spent twelve years there; U. S. Minister Dr. Ernest Lyons; Rev. and Mrs. F. A. Price, who are now in Liberia at work; and the following works: Dr. E. W. Blyden's books and orations, African stories by Bishop Camphor, Dr. Reed's Racial Readjustments, Bishop Scott's Reports and Papers, Bishop Ferguson's work, Starr's Liberia, Mr. H. H. Johnson's work, The Stewart Missionary, splendid vii viii PREFACE volume, The Life of Crowther, Dr. M. N. Work’s Negro Year-Book, and Daybreak in the Dark Continent, for valuable data. The Author. April, 1920. Jacksonville, Fla., U. S. A. FOREWORD The struggles and achievements of the Negro race have never been accurately and fully recorded; here and there writers of note both white and black have written commendably of the native Africans in Africa and their descendants in America. The present great centers for educational acquire¬ ment, religious devotion, social and political achieve¬ ments, are geographically located in the United States of America, West Indies Islands and the Republic of Li¬ beria. A great deal of that which has been accomplished by this struggling race in America has been recorded by the scholarly writers of the race and read with enthu¬ siasm, pride and inspiration by the progressive members of the race scattered throughout the world. The efforts and progress of the race in Hayti, Santo Domingo and the British West Indies are less known and less appreciated, and Liberia as a nation, though the pride of the Negro world, has never been known and esteemed by the other portion of the race as it should. Now, after the close of the great World’s War, when in the titanic struggle Christian civilization has tri¬ umphed over the 12th century feudalism, barbarism and autocracy, the so-called superior race of mankind has begun to recognize the invaluable worth of a belated race, and the principles of universal brotherhood. IX X FOREWORD The members of the African race and the world of mankind are presented with a history recording the strug¬ gles of a portion of this race in Africa for civilization with political freedom. This “ History of Liberia ” comes as a beacon light along the rocky shores of the race’s surging sea. It is both racial and national in its scope, ancient and modern in its composition, com¬ prehensive in its treatment of facts, interesting and in¬ structive, tasteful in style, and designed to awaken within the heart of its reader a greater race loyalty and stronger patriotism of every true Liberian. Having scanned the whole of the book while in manu¬ script form, and read in detail several of the chapters, it is a pleasure to me to write these words as an introduc¬ tion to a book filled with so much interesting historical data and many inspiring facts which may be used by the students in school, and read by the parents in the home, and the patriot and statesman in public. Dr. Walker has done his work well, especially so in view of the conditions under which he had to write. He is the author of several different works, and without hesita¬ tion we place this volume, “ The History of Liberia,” in the forefront of his other books. This is a contribu¬ tion to Liberia as a nation, and the African race at large. Dr. Walker has written many books, and some of his best-known works have been on Liberia. Of his work, “ Presidents of the Negro Republic,” over 15,000 have been sold, and “ The Presidents of Liberia ” has also had a wide circulation. FOREWORD xi He was given the Divinitatis Doctoris by the College of West Africa, April 30th, 1907, and when a student at Gammon Theological Seminary won the Stewart Foundation prize by an oration entitled: “ Crowther of Sierra Leone, the Heathen, Missionary and Bishop.” We believe that as a text-book this history will meet the long-felt want of Liberian schools and will be a valua¬ ble encyclopedia at the fireside of every reading family in America, Europe and Africa. Yours truly, J. A. Simpson. March 18, 1920. Missionary to Liberia, Africa, 1899-1919. Liberian Address: Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. INTRODUCTION Little brother of my heart, Come and speak with me. I hear you shrilling and singing apart In the waste by the hawthorn tree Little brother of my heart, I pray you Come and speak with me. Or, if you will not come Where the boughs meet above, Come to the orchard, the apple orchard, Where the wild honey-gatherers hum, And sing to me of love. — Ethel Talbot Scheffatjer. Id presenting this work on Liberia, we do not presume to give the public an entirely original work, but it is rather our aim to place before the public and the world an unabridged history made up of many extracts, say¬ ings and travels of others who have studied the country and its people. We believe, however, that we are presenting many facts that have not been before published. “ The Republic of Liberia is an attempt and an atone¬ ment. It is an attempt to establish a civilized Negro estate in the West African Forest; and a somewhat paltry atonement, which has been made by Britain and America, for the wrong-doing of the slave trade. As France shared to some extent this traffic in Negro bonds¬ men, we may claim her sympathy and participation also, in the Liberian experiment. She holds back her xiii XIV INTRODUCTION mighty forces and the tidal wave of her African Empire from the skirts of this small African Republic, wherein the descendants of slaves impressed with European culture may try to devise a new and appropriate civiliza¬ tion for Negro West Africa: preserving all that is good and practical of America’s teaching, shedding what is inappropriate, and inventing additional precepts suited to the Negro’s mind and body.” Sir Henry H. Johns¬ ton says, “ We believe that the future of those Negroes in the United States who cannot be absorbed into the American community without risk of civil war lies in Liberia and not in portions of the Tropical South.” As the historian above quoted and others might think, there is plenty of room within the 43,000 square miles of the Liberian Republic, to make a good beginning.