Liberia was established in 1822 as a free Black American colony in West Africa as slavery ceased. President of the United States Donald Trump has been ridiculed after he praised the president of Liberia for speaking English “beautifully”, even though it is the official language there.
“Excellent English, where did you learn to speak so eloquently?” Trump said to Joseph Boakai at a meeting with five African leaders at the White House on Wednesday. Alex Vines, director of the Africa Programme at London think tank Chatham House, said to Al Jazeera: “President Trump’s restricted understanding of Africa was put on display with his remark about President Boakai’s command of English.”
Liberia was established in 1822 as a colony for emancipated Black American slaves when white Americans needed to respond to what they perceived as an issue – the existence of Black individuals in the United States after the end of slavery.
The nation of five million is on the Western African coast and is bordered by Sierra Leone in the northwest, Guinea in the north, Ivory Coast to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south.
Liberia was established in 1822 and declared itself a republic in 1847. It is the oldest republic in Africa today and is viewed by most as a beacon of African autonomy. The two countries that, with Ethiopia, comprise the sole group of uncolonized African countries during Europe’s rush for the continent are Liberia and Ethiopia.
16 officially recognised ethnic groups constitute Liberia’s Indigenous African people, and the Kpelle is the largest among them. Jehudi Ashmun, an American white man, was spearheading the work of the American Colonisation Society (ACS) to relocate free people of colour to Africa. Although some emigrated voluntarily, the organisation has been known to coerce or pressure others into moving.
ACS was formed by white Americans who felt that the existence of free Black individuals in the US threatened the country, as they could provoke those still in slavery into rebellion. Others also felt in the “inferiority” of the Black population and had no faith that they could ever attain equality in American society. The aim of the organisation was thus to find a colony in West Africa which would accept them.
Liberia was declared an independent republic in 1847 and was the first African republic to gain independence and be recognised by European and American Western nations. Joseph Jenkins Roberts, an African-American-born man who had immigrated to Liberia in 1829 and had evolved into a politician, was chosen as the first president of the nation.
