History of Education in Liberia, 1820-1860

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

The traditional narrative of Liberia’s unique history have been built on
colonization, Christianization and westernization and have overlooked the
important role freed Blacks (men, women, and children) from the United States
played in the formation of Liberia’s educational system. This dissertation explores
the critical history of education in Liberia from 1820 to 1860—a period where
colonization to Africa was high in number, voluntary and supported by the
American Colonization Society. This study will highlight the role Blacks played in
the development of their educational system in the first four years of their arrival.
Particular attention will be paid to the importance of race, citizenship, gender,
and power in a system where slavery no longer existed. Challenging as the
experience was, Black settlers navigated their new environment infusing their
culture with that of the native Africans. As such, this study also offers a detailed
educational history of how this transfusion of cultures took shape, amid the
tension and changing identities, and influenced the creation of western education
in Liberia. It is through critical examination of archival documents, including
narratives from Black and white settlers, that I provide a multilayered account of
the processes by which Liberia’s education system came to take its form.
Preliminary findings revealed that in an effort to create a new society, Black
settlers replicated the same oppressive system they experienced in the United
States by restricting social, political, economical and educational privileges to
native Africans. Thus creating a system of tension and turmoil between those
native Africans and the newly settled Blacks.

Author

• Sammer Saleh-Jones, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign