American Colonization Society established to transport free blacks to Africa

Historical Context Note

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Domains

Race

Dates

Date of occurrence 1816-12

Places

United States (Location)

Resources

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The American Colonization Society was established with the aim of 'returning' freed African Americans slaves and also free African Americans and their descendants to Africa. A colony was established in Liberia for this purpose, after initial attempts to found a colony in Sierra Leone were unsuccessful. Though members of the ACS were largely pro-abolitionist Quakers who believed 'repatriation' offered African Americans the best opportunities, support for the society came from mixed quarters. Anxieties over a rapidly growing African American population and the subsequent impact on the economy, as well as fears over slave rebellions, fuelled a less than idealistic desire to see a large scale immigration of black people. This meant that the society would later be discredited by…

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