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In the early 1800s, most Americans supported slavery. In 1816, a group of whites, disturbed by the presence of black Americans, slave and free, began to plan to send them back to Africa.

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Transcript

Lead: In 1816 a group of whites, disturbed by the presence of black Americans, slave and free, began to plan to send them back to Africa.

Intro: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the early 1800s most Americans supported slavery. Whether for economic reasons or through a general sense of racial superiority, many whites considered blacks to be sub-human, eligible for exploitation. Only a small number were in favor of emancipation and full civil rights for blacks. An even smaller body of opinion was represented by the American Colonization Society formed in 1816. This group believed that the continued presence of blacks, slave and free, had a corrosive effect on white society. They proposed to return freed blacks to Africa.

In 1818 two delegates were sent to western Africa to find a suitable spot for black settlement. Two years later the first group of settlers were headed for Sierra Leone with a fresh new constitution based on the U.S. legal system and directing that the colony would be administered by an agent of the Society. The eighty-eight colonists and three white leaders settled on Sherbro Island, but almost immediately disaster struck. Within weeks 25 settlers and all three whites had succumbed to malaria.

Elijah Johnson, one of the settlers, saved the situtation, took charge and led the colonists off that malarial island onto the mainland, and with a new group fresh from the states, settled at Cape Mesurado. Land was purchased from local chieftains and they began to settle in. Life was not easy for the settlers. Malaria continued to stalk the colony and it was plagued with continued attacks from natives and slave traders. Morale was low and it appeared as though the scheme to rid North America of blacks would die an early death. Next time: consolidation, expansion and independence for Liberia.

Research assistance by Amy-Louise Traubert. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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