Women and Leadership in Liberia

Abstract

Unlike many African countries, Liberia was never colonized and had thriving indigenous political entities and units, with a certain degree of autonomy and female authority in some societies. Contact with North Africa and Europe included the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and resulted in both Islam and Christianity being added to the religious inventory, with Christianity being one of the majority religions. In 1820, the American Colonization Society established in Liberia settlements of emancipated and previously enslaved African people. In 1847, the country declared independence with Joseph Jenkins Roberts as the first president. In 1862, the American president, Abraham Lincoln, extended official recognition to Liberia. In 1865, a number of immigrants from Barbados joined the small number of African Americans coming to Liberia after the American Civil War. Collectively, these groups became known as Americo-Liberians and formed a ruling elite, distancing themselves from the local inhabitants. In 1868, limited control was established over the interior. In 1869, the True Whig Party was founded and became the only party dominating Liberian politics until the 1980 coup. In 1888, Edward Wilmot Blyden, born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, became Liberia’s leading intellectual and journalist and president of Liberia College.