Everything about Americo-liberians totally explained
Americo-Liberians are a
Liberian ethnicity of
African American descent. The sister ethnic group of Americo Liberians are the
Sierra Leone Creole people who are also of African American descent. Most of them trace their ancestry to free-born and formerly
enslaved African-Americans who immigrated in the
1800s to become
founders of Liberia and other colonies along the coast in places that would become
Cote d'Ivoire and
Sierra Leone. Later Americo Liberians integrated 5000 Congos (descendents of freed slaves from the Congo Basins who never made it to the Americas) and 346
Barbadian immigrants into the
hegemony. Like the
Creoles of
Freetown, Americos rarely intermarried with Natives. For 133 years after independence, the Republic of Liberia was a
one-party state ruled by the Americo-Liberian-dominated
True Whig Party.
History and settlement
Some 13,000 persons crossed
the Atlantic to create new settlements on the
Grain Coast of
West Africa between
1817 and
1867 with the aid of the
American Colonization Society. These settlers founded one of two
African American colonies in
West Africa, the other colony founded by African Americans was in
Freetown, Sierra Leone and their own descendants were called 'Creoles'. The early settlers practiced their
Christian faith, sometimes in
combination with traditional African religious beliefs. They spoke an
African American Vernacular English, and few ventured into the interior or mingled with local African peoples. Americo-Liberian society, culture and political organization remain heavily influenced by that of the
United States, particularly the country's
Southeast. Today the Americo-Liberian population numbers about 150,000. Americo-Liberians were credited for Liberia's largest and longest economic expansion, especially
William V.S. Tubman who did much to promote foreign investment and to bridge the economic, social, and political gaps between the descendents of the original settlers and the inhabitants of the interior.
(External Link
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Although they make up only about 5% of the Liberian population, Americo-Liberians dominated national politics from its founding until
Samuel Doe led a military coup in 1980. There is controversy on how Americo-Liberians held on to power for so long. Some attribute it to the fact that divisions were based on "light-skin vs. dark skin" particularly because the first president was light skinned. Although observers point to the fact that during the Americo-Liberian reign the leaders were light, dark, and brown skinned meaning that theory is unlikely. Other experts attribute it to a
Masonic Order as opposed to
colorism.
Further Information
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