Connecting Juneteenth, Monroe and Monrovia, Liberia

Juneteenth, also known as Black Independence Day, celebrates the day on June 19, 1865, when all slaves were made aware of the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued over two years earlier.

This article is to tie in another Black Independence Day which took place 18 years earlier. It connects two places in the world, thousands of miles apart, named for the same individual, President James Monroe, as we celebrate Juneteenth and Black freedom.

I provide more information on early Black independence while Blacks were still enslaved in the United States. Monroe County and city are named for President Monroe, and so is Monrovia, the capital of the West African nation of Liberia. President Monroe owned slaves before and during his time as president. He was an integral part of the colonization movement explained below.

There were two movements in the early 19th century to free Black slaves in the United States: the abolitionist movement and the colonization movement. The abolitionist movement called for the complete end to slavery. The “colonization” movement called for freed slaves and other free Blacks to be sent to a colony outside the United States. The American Colonization Society (ACS) Movement purchased land in West Africa and over a period of 40 years more than 12,000 Blacks were sent or immigrated to what is now Liberia. The capital of Liberia was eventually named Monrovia after President James Monroe because he procured public funds for the “Movement.”

As far as the “Movement,” there were some who believed that free Blacks could not integrate into American society, some who believed that free Blacks simply did not belong in the United States, others who wanted free Blacks to be sent away so as to maintain the institution of slavery, and yet others who believed that slaves had played a major part in building this nation and had just as much right to be here. www.history.com/news/slavery-american-colonization-society-liberia

Eventually, Liberia became the first African nation to declare independence in 1847. So the first independent African nation was “founded” by former U.S. slaves, 16 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. As other Blacks were in slavery, there were freed Blacks running an entire nation. The government was led by a freed Black man from Virginia, Joseph Roberts, an “Americo-Liberian.” More settlements were established in the area, and the population of the settlers grew, even as they encountered challenges with the indigenous populations of Africans. history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/liberia

When the ACS founded Liberia, the traditional ethnic and cultural boundaries were not considered. Suddenly, all the indigenous ethnic groups were bound together and governed by a foreign ruling class of other Blacks who essentially subjugated them. This has been the impetus for many years of ethnic conflict within Liberia. The “Americo-Liberians,” while only 5% of the nation’s population dominated the nation in every way imaginable. They continued to dominate the government until a coup overthrew the government in 1980.

A military government headed by a native Liberian, Samuel Doe, led the nation for 10 years, then was overthrown, Doe was captured, tortured and killed, thereby plunging the nation into political turmoil and two civil wars that would last for 13 years. The first civil war lasted from 1989 to 1997, and the second from 1999 to 2003. liberianlady.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/history-of-ethnic-conflict-within-liberia/

During those tumultuous civil war years, where an estimated 250,000 people were killed, there were war crimes, mass killings and numerous atrocities associated with names such as Prince Johnson and Charles Taylor. After the wars, in 2006, Harvard educated Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president.

She was the first elected female head of state in Africa, won the the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 and served until 2018. Since then, former professional soccer player George Weah has served as president. The nation continues to make positive strides as it emerges from the scourges of tribal conflict, civil wars, Ebola and now COVID. So freed Blacks were sent to Africa to settle Liberia (Monrovia), even as others remained enslaved here for another 18 years. The situation there was better for them, but not necessarily for those they encountered there.

Kojo Quartey is president of Monroe County Community College and can be reached at kquartey@monroeccc.edu.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Kojo Quartey: Connecting Juneteenth, Monroe and Monrovia, Liberia