Mississippi-in-Africa facts for kids
Mississippi-in-Africa was a special colony located on the Pepper Coast in West Africa. It was founded in the 1830s by the Mississippi Colonization Society from the United States. Many of the people who settled there were free people of color from America, including many who had once been slaves.
In the late 1840s, about 300 former slaves from Prospect Hill Plantation and other properties owned by Isaac Ross in Jefferson County, Mississippi, made up the largest group to move to this new colony. Ross had freed these slaves in his will. He also made sure his plantation was sold to pay for their travel and their first costs in Africa.
These freedmen and other American settlers in Mississippi-in-Africa, along with those in nearby Liberia (which took over Mississippi-in-Africa in 1842) and the Republic of Maryland (which joined Liberia in 1857), became known as the Americo-Liberians. This group became a powerful and wealthy part of society. They controlled what became the independent country of Liberia for a long time, taking power over the local native people. Today, the area where the Mississippi colony was located is part of Sinoe County, Liberia.
Contents
History of the Colony
Why People Moved to Africa
The American Colonization Society was started in the United States in 1816. It was a project supported by people with different views on slavery. Some slave owners wanted free Black people to leave the South. They worried that free Black people might make their slave societies unstable. Others who wanted to end slavery believed that sending freed slaves to Africa would give them a better chance to build their own communities. Some people who fought against slavery also supported this idea. They saw how much unfair treatment free Black people faced in the North. They thought a new society in Africa might be better for them.
However, most free Black people did not want to move. They felt that the colonization plan was just a way to get rid of them. They believed they belonged in the United States and were part of its society. They wanted to gain equal rights right where they were born. Important figures like Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm wrote articles in their newspaper, Freedom's Journal, speaking out against this movement.
Founding Mississippi-in-Africa
In June 1831, several important planters and slave owners in Mississippi started the Mississippi Colonization Society. These included Stephen Duncan, Isaac Ross, Edward McGehee, John Ker, and educator Jemeriah Chamberlain. Their main goal was to move free Black people and freed slaves from Mississippi to the new colony of Liberia in Africa. This Society bought a piece of land for their colony, which they named Mississippi-in-Africa. They believed that free Black people could cause problems for slave societies. At that time, Mississippi had many more slaves than white people, about three slaves for every white person.
The first settlers arrived in 1837. The town of Greenville was built by the colonists around 1838. Greenville was named after Judge James Green. He was one of the first planters from the Mississippi Delta to send a group of former slaves to Liberia.
Josiah Finley, whose brother helped start the American Colonization Society, was the governor of Mississippi-in-Africa from June 1837 until he died in 1838.
Isaac Ross's Legacy
Isaac Ross made a plan in his will to free his slaves. This would happen if they agreed to move to West Africa. His plantation was to be sold to pay for their journey and supplies for the new settlers. One of his grandsons tried to challenge the will in court. However, Mississippi's highest court upheld the will. In the late 1840s, about 300 African American freedmen from Ross's Prospect Hill Plantation moved to Mississippi-in-Africa. This was the largest single group of American colonists to move to Liberia.
Ross's grandson, Isaac Ross Wade, fought the will in court for many years. During this time, he lived on the plantation. Wade was supposed to pay the freedmen for their work. In 1847, the court decided that the slaves, who were now technically free, could leave the United States. In 1848, the last group of Ross's freed slaves moved to the colony in West Africa. The Mississippi Colonization Society arranged their trip to Africa. This society had bought land on the Pepper Coast specifically for freed people from Mississippi. Isaac Ross was the first among the society's founders to arrange for his slaves to be freed and sent to Africa.
Life in the New Colony
The freedmen built a society in West Africa that was much like the one they had left behind. However, they took on a powerful role over the local native people. They built houses that looked like the large Southern homes they knew. They also created a society with clear social levels, similar to what they had experienced in the United States. They started plantations and fought with local tribes for control of the land. They believed their American culture and Christian faith made them superior. This settlement was independent from 1835 until 1842. Then, it became part of the Commonwealth of Liberia. In 1847, Liberia became fully independent from the American Colonization Society.
A journalist named Alan Huffman wrote a history of this settlement. He explored how it led to more than a century of bad feelings between the majority of tribal peoples and the Americo-Liberians. The Americo-Liberians were descendants of the colonists who controlled Liberia's politics and economy well into the 20th century. These two groups have been on opposite sides during the civil war in Liberia since the 1980s.
Important Dates
- June 1831 — The Mississippi Colonization Society was founded.
- 1835 — The Mississippi and Louisiana State Colonization societies established the Mississippi-in-Africa colony.
- June 1837 — Josiah Finley was named governor.
- September 10, 1838 — Governor Finley died.
- 1841 — Thomas Buchanan was named Acting Agent.
- 1842 — Mississippi-in-Africa became part of the Commonwealth of Liberia.
- 1844 — Richard E. Murray was named governor.
