Spotlight on Liberia’s Transformation
Downtown Monrovia, Liberia's Capital
The DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy is launching its blog, “Call & Response,” with a spotlight on the West African nation of Liberia.
The history of the Republic of Liberia is particularly unique among African countries because it’s longstanding relationship with the United States and, more specifically, black America. It was founded as a colony by the American Colonization Society in the 1822 as a place for freed slaves from the United States to emigrate to in West Africa. They were drawn by the concept that they would not be burdened by the inequality of the United States. Those freed slaves formed an elite society abd the country was official established in 1847, with t a government modeled after the United States.
After more than 125 years of stability, Liberia has been reeling in more recent history, following a military coup in 1980 that overthrew and killed the president at the time, William R. Tolbert. In the more than 15 years that followed, the country had been devastated by a crippling civil war that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and thousands more fleeing the country.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia's President
Today, Liberia is recovering from the lingering effects of the civil war and related economic dislocation. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the nation’s president, has been seeking to rebuild the country since coming to office after her election in 2005.
In the coming weeks, DBC will look at how the redevelopment of Liberia is faring. Jonathan Hicks, a senior fellow at DBC and a former political reporter with the New York Times, will be in Liberia and will write regularly on his observations of life in this old West African nation.
As DBC launches its new blog, “Call & Response,” we welcome your comments and observations.
History that I was unfamiliar with, I look forward to more of articles with regards to Liberia’s current status.
A Wonderful history lesson that few Black Americans are aware of. It should be inclusive in primary education for all students worldwide…Americans in particular
This is the perfect mixture of history and current news. For our generation (I’m 21), the internet, blogging specifically, and other forms of technology are the main ways of communication. By fusing the history of Liberia and how it affected the world paired with updated cultural pieces on Liberia’s current state, it provides a very educational, beneficial, and informative product for us to read. I’m excited to see what DBC will bring.
I did not Liberia’s history, and now I look forward to following the progress made in Liberia’s redevelopment.