Liberia has gone through two civil wars. According to the World Bank, 54 percent of the population of Liberia is living below the poverty line. These two headlines are surprising when one considers that this country was founded as a result of benevolence from all over the United States. The capital city of Liberia was even named Monrovia for James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States.

But, the woes of modern Liberia cannot be traced just to the recent political faults of the country starting in 1980 when Samuel Doe, a descendant of the indigenous people of Liberia, led a coup against the regime of the free Blacks from the United States who founded Liberia.

How did a slave rebellion in Virginia give birth to racial nationalism in America, leading to the foundation of Liberia by the American Colonization Society? How did this nineteenth-century history shape the country’s current troubled legacy?

Dr. Gnimbin A. Ouattara, Assistant Professor of History and International Studies at Brenau University, will share his latest research about the American Colonization Movement to Liberia.

This program is sponsored by the FCPL Friends & Advocates.