THE ONLY AMERICAN COLONY IN THE WORLD 



723 



THE home: of 



It is owned by a 



what they want when 

 they want it. Few of 

 them have even seen or 

 ever expect to see the 

 United States, but they 

 hke to feel that they are 

 still a part of America. 



I shall not soon forget 

 a feeble, gray-haired ne- 

 gro who hobbled up the 

 steps and held out a 

 hand that trembled with 

 excitement. "I seed you 

 on the porch," he said, 

 apologetically, with that 

 old - time negro defer- 

 ence, ''an' I knowed you 

 wuz sum o' mine — an' 

 I'm some o' yourn." 

 And I should like to re- 

 mark right here that the 

 negroes of Liberia are 

 as polite and respectful 

 to the white man as they are in Kentucky. 



It is sometimes overlooked that Liberia 

 is one of the most interesting colonial 

 experiments of modern times. There are 

 three cities on that death-inviting West 

 Coast that were founded as homes for 

 returned slaves — Freetown, Libreville, 

 and Liberia — all with prefixes meaning 

 "free." Freetown was taken over by the 

 British Crown more than a century ago 

 because it then had the only safe harbor 

 on the entire coast. Libreville went the 

 same way when French imperialism 

 awoke, and it is now the capital of the 

 French Congo. Only Liberia remains 

 free. 



Wholly apart from our own connection 

 with the establishment of the colony, it 

 is interesting to read the declaration of 

 independence of 1847. 



"The western coast of Africa was the place 

 selected by American benevolence and philan- 

 thropy for our future home. Removed beyond 

 those influences which depressed us in our 

 native land, it was hoped we would be enabled 

 to enjoy those rights and privileges, and exer- 

 cise and improve those faculties which the 

 God of nature has given us in common with 

 the rest of mankind. 



"Under the auspices of the American Coloni- 

 zation Society, we established ourselves here, 

 on land acquired by purchase from the lords 

 of the soil. . 



Photo by Edgar Allen Forbes 



THE AMERICAN EEGATION IN MONROVIA 



negro farmer who left the United States as a 

 freed slave-boy 



"In coming to the shores of Africa, we in- 

 dulged the pleasing hope that we should be 

 permitted to exercise and improve those facul- 

 ties which impart to man his dignity — to 

 nourish in our hearts the flame of honorable 

 ambition, to cherish and indulge those aspira- 

 tions which a beneficent Creator hath im- 

 planted in every human heart, and to evince to 

 all who despise, ridicule, and oppress our own 

 race that we possess with them a common 

 nature, are with them susceptible of equal re- 

 finement, and capable of equal advancement in 

 all that adorns and dignifies man. 

 Thus far our highest hopes have been real- 

 ized." 



"Thus far" — but that was 63 years 

 ago. The agitation that preceded the 

 Civil War came upon us then and the 

 little African republic dropped below the 

 horizon, there to maintain its struggle as 

 best it could. What about its ''highest 

 hopes" today? 



This was the question in my mind as 

 I looked one night upon the dark outline 

 of Cape Mesurado and waited on ship- 

 board for the dawn. With eager interest 

 I went ashore next morning, curious to 

 see how the little experiment had turned 

 out, and curious, as a Southern man, to 

 see how the negro type had been affected 

 in the second and the third generations. 



Perhaps I should say frankly that I 

 had gone to Liberia with the understand- 



