‘A National Day Or An Independence Day’?
PHOTO: Dr. Mory Sumaworo
By Dr. Mory SUMAWORO (BA, MCL, Cert-PFM Law, Ph.D.)
A Lecturer at Cuttington University Graduate School of Global Affairs and Policy, AME University Graduate School and Foreign Service Institute of Liberia. Executive Director of the African Institute for Development Research (AIDER).
iberia is a West African nation and is considered one of the oldest republics in modern statehood; the next to the Republic of Haiti, which was declared independent under General Jean Jacques Dessalines in 1804 when he defeated French troops dispatched by Napoleon Bonaparte[i]. Both historically and anthropologically, it is a fact that Liberia was inhabited by a number of African tribal groups or indigenous peoples—Bassa, Vai, Mandigo, Kpelle, etc.
Stephen S Hlophe, in his Book ‘Class Ethnicity and Politics in Liberia’ does justice to this fact[ii],—before the arrival of the settlers or the Americo-Liberians in the early eighteenth century. It was founded in 1822 as an outpost for returning freed slaves from the Americas. It eventually became a commonwealth, and was declared independent in 1847 with the political arrangement of the American Colonization Society, or ACS (a racist private- public funded organization established in the United States)[iii].
According to some historians and intellectuals, Liberians and foreigners alike, Liberia is unique among African countries due to the fact that it was the only African nation colonized and controlled by freed African-American and Ex-Caribbean slaves as a free state and a homeland to live in. Some other writers argue that Liberia and Ethiopia were the only two African countries during the 19th-century conquest of Africa that were not controlled or colonized.
The third possible view believes that Liberia was colonized by ACS and, by extension, by the US government due to involvement of some high-ranking American politicians and the US Congress in the formation of the ACS. Liberia—which means “Land of the Free”—originated from the freed African-American and Ex-Caribbean slaves who established Liberia as a free state. During the colonial era, Liberia was presumed to be a protectorate of the United States[iv]. It is widely believed and absolutely taught at various Liberian schools and tertiary institutions that Liberia was not colonized.
Therefore, if so, why does it celebrate Independence Day every year from 1847 to the present day!!? It should have been celebrating either a National or a Founders’ Day instead, because the antonym of independence in etymologic references is colonialism. On the other hand, if the argument that claims and holds the view that Liberia was colonized, then, there had not been a historic error in celebrating independence day. Against this backdrop, this piece is aimed at raising some critical points about Liberia’s Independence Day celebration based on two unescapable possibilities, as detailed below and depicted by figure [2].
The First Possibility: (Liberia Was Colonized)
This assumption could otherwise be called the “positive possibility.” It is premised on the fact that having celebrated Independence Day over the last 176 years implies that the state was once held by colonialism, and controlled by a foreign power or institutions. The word “independence” is an anatomy of dependence, otherwise known as “colonization.”
Therefore, accepting this assumption, it could be argued that Liberia was colonized by the American Colonization Society, which was set up by some prominent American politicians, philanthropists, and Christian organizations to repatriate the freed slaves from the States. According to ‘Critical Analyses of Liberia’s Bicentennial Celebration,” A way forward to a new historical narrative and development tangibility[v]“The history of the modern state of Liberia started in 1816 when the American Colonization Society (ACS) received support from some leading public figures in the United States of America (USA), such as Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, President Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and others.
The movement worked to establish and find a colony in Africa for freed and manumitted slaves. The agenda hit an official operation when Congress granted $10000 USD for the repatriation to Africa of persons brought to the States as slaves, following the American abolition of the slave trade. Hence, within the period from 1822 to 1865, the ACS was able to repatriate 19000 black people, among whom 4540 were freeborn, 7000 were manumitted slaves, and more than 5700 were recaptured from slaving vessels’. This was the beginning of the modern state known today as the Republic of Liberia.
The main objective behind the founding of the ACS was to have a settlement for the freed slaves in Africa. Hence, the central purpose of the discussion in this piece is to point out some of the historical significance of Liberia after two centuries of laying the foundation of its statehood. Impliedly, the involvement of high-profile American politicians such as President James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson, in addition to funding from Congress, in the formation of the ACS, which seemingly colonized Liberia, according to some scholars and writers, tells us that indeed Liberia was under American colonization, though it was not directly controlled by the federal government. Thus, based on this possibility, as evidenced by the above-argued historical fact, Liberia has been right along to celebrate July 26 as her Independence Day since 1847. Boddy-Evans supports the argument that Liberia was briefly colonized in the following:
The ACS created the Cape Mesurado Colony on the Grain Coast on Dec. 15, 1821. This was further expanded into the Colony of Liberia on Aug. 15, 1824. By the 1840s, the colony had become a financial burden on the ACS and the U.S. government. In addition, because it was neither a sovereign state nor a recognized colony of a sovereign state, Liberia faced political threats from Britain. As a result, the ACS ordered the Liberians to declare their independence in 1846. However, even after gaining its full independence a year later, the European nations continued to view Liberia as an American colony, thus avoiding it during the scramble for Africa in the 1880s[vi].”
Besides, some scholars view and argue that upon the arrival of the settlers from 1816-1847, the period that experienced some levels of administrative control by the ACS and, by extension, the American government, qualifies Liberia to have once been a colony of the USA. Hence, if this assumption takes precedence over the proceeding one in the following discussions, then it will be logicality and reason to celebrate Independence Day as it has been observed over the last 176 years.
Based on this, it can either be pointed out that she was colonized by an organization; ACS, unlike other countries that were colonized by other states and governments, or it can be argued that she was colonized by the US Government based on the influence some high-ranking American politicians had on ASC’s formations and operations. Besides, a participant in the assessment and in generating the views of intellectuals and the educated class argues that Liberia was colonized. According to him, ‘ Yes, Liberia was colonized.” It was established as a colony by the American Colonization Society in 1822. “To be colonized means to be subjected to the control and influence of a foreign power, typically for economic, political, and/or territorial purposes’ [vii]
Figure 1: A Survey conducted by this study to generate views on whether Liberia was colonized ?Source: the Author.
The Second Possibility: (Liberia Was Not Colonized)
This school of thought ( The Negative Possibility) believes and argues that Liberia was like Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Zambia, Gambia and other African nations that were held under colonization and external control by Western colonial powers and imperialists. Historical textbooks about African history especially with the connection to the colonial period, established that Ethiopia and Liberia were two African nations that were colonized. This has been argued by some writers in Liberia and elsewhere. According to Alistair Boddy-Evans, ‘There are two countries in Africa considered by some scholars to never have been colonized: Ethiopia and Liberia’.[i] Besides, this belief seems to be the most prevalent perception by many in Liberia and outside Liberia. Some writers have tried to sugarcoat that Liberia was in a varnished and glazed manner, in her book (Liberia: The Violence of Democracy), Mary H Moran points out that ‘ It is in many ways a paradoxical place, often cited as an exception to most sweeping generalizations about Sub-Saharan Africa, unlike the rest of the continent, Liberia was never formally colonized by a European power; its pseudo-colonial ( Mother Country) is the United States’[ii].
This study collected views from both Cuttington University Graduate and AME University Graduate Schools, some of the proponents of the view that Liberia was never colonized opine justifying the use of the nomenclature ‘ Independence Day’ by pointing out that ‘When our forefathers – the settlers- declared independence, they were speaking in the context of establishing a state/ a nation to be recognized by the rest of the world. I, [ a student at Cottington University Graduate School of Global Affairs and Policy who participate in the assessment] think they meant they were prepared to be a whole complete unit, and were seeking recognition. They might have used the wrong nomenclature, but they intended to form themselves into a recognized State’[iii]
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The figure [2] points out the two leading and dominant views on whether Liberia was once colonized or not. It depicts that holding the view that it was colonized, then nomenclature or phrase ‘Independence Day’ makes logicality. On the other hand, if the second view is held; Liberia was not colonized, then the nomenclature or phrase ‘ Independence Day’ needs to be relooked into and critically examined, by considering one of these following alternatives : National Day or Founders’ Day. A participant in this debate from Cuttington University Graduate School counterargues with her friend in a WhatsApp discussion by saying if Liberia was not colonized why don’t we have a Founders’ Day instead[iv]? Contrarily, another student differs by pointing out that Liberia was never colonized, it was declared independent as a result of political threats[v].
Conclusion:
The subject of Liberia being once colonized is debatable from a histropolitical point of view and intellectually arguable. The outcome of the debate determines the logicality of the Independence Day celebration or may suggest an alternative nomenclature such as National or Founders’ Days. That is, holding the view that she was once colonized either by an organization, i.e., the ASC, or indirectly by a state, i.e., the USA, there would be no historical, logical, or perhaps linguistic complication about her Independence Day celebration every July 26 since 1847.
Nevertheless, holding the otherwise view that she was not colonized at all, there would be no need for celebrating July 26 every year as Independence Day, because one has to be held in colonialism before one celebrates independence from that colonialism.
Therefore, based on this view, Liberia should have been celebrating either a National Day or a Founders’ Day instead of the previously discussed one, as depicted in Figure [2]. That is due to the antonym of independence being colonialism, and she was not colonized as argued by the second view. Ironically, this piece conducted a survey among intellectuals and students at AME University Graduate and Cuttington University Graduate Schools, as well as among other professionals who were randomly selected to generate their views on the subject matter, 328 views were generated .
It was, therefore, concluded, as shown in figure [1] and Table [1], that 68% of the participants, representing 230, held the view that Liberia was not colonized, while 31% representing 105 participants, believed that Liberia was colonized, and 1% opines that the subject is debatable and it is hard to make a definite decision on it. The sample was randomly selected from educated Liberians ranging their qualification from Senior High School to Master’s degree.
| No | Was Liberia Colonized?
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| 1 | Element | Frequency | Percentange |
| 2 | Liberia was not colonized | 230 | 68. 0% |
| 3 | Liberia was colonized | 105 | 31.0% |
| 4 | Undecided/ debatable | 4 | 1% |
| 5 | Total | 335 | 100% |
Table 1 Survey conducted by this study to generate views on whether Liberia was colonized ? Source: The Author.
Finally, the subject is highly debatable among intellectuals and historians. Some people believe that she was colonized by the American Colonization Society, mainly the Mary Colonization Society and the Mississippi State Colonization Society. All of these were established by Americans with the support of the US government at certain levels. President James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, and others all formed the ACS. In addition, the Congress provided a huge amount of money in support as well. A group of intellectuals and academics view that she was never colonized at all.
The third view propounds that she was colonized by ex-slaves who were repatriated from the United States. So, celebrating July 26 every year as Independence Day determines whether she was colonized or not. This humble suggestion suggests to the opinion and national leaders at the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of the government to carefully and critically look into the nomenclature of Independence Day to reflect the factual reality of Liberian history.
Thus, if it is objectively and historically established that Liberia was never colonized as widely perceived there no need for Independence Day Celebration as nomenclature, rather it would be appropriate to use National or Founders’ Day, instead. Some intellectuals like Sidie Sheriff even suggests Repatriation’s Day[vi].
About the Author:
Dr. Mory Sumaworo, ( BA, MCL, Cert-PFM Law, Ph.D.), a Liberian academic, author, an entrepreneur. He currently lectures at Cuttington Graduate School of Global Affairs and Policy, AME University Graduate University School and Foreign Service Institute of Liberia. Executive Director of African Institute for Development Research (AIDER) and CEO of G.B.I GROUP. mory6140@gmail.com / msumaoro@cu.edu.lr .
Endnotes:
[i] Alistair Boddy-Evans, Countries in Africa Considered Never Colonized, ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/countries-in-africa-considered-never-colonized-43742 accessed on 18 July 2023.
[ii] Mary Moran, Liberia: The Violence Democracy, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008, Liberia: The Violence of Democracy – Mary H. Moran – كتب Google
[iii] Respond from a Participant in the assessment and generating views on Liberia Independence Day. He is a Master’s degree Student at Cuttington University Graduate School of Global Affairs and Policy. The Note was received through a WhatsApp Group on the 20th of July 2023.
[iv] An argument from a Participant in the assessment and generating views on Liberia Independence Day. He is a Master’s degree Student at Cuttington University Graduate School of Global Affairs and Policy. The Note was received through a WhatsApp Group on the 19th of July 2023.
[v] An argument from a Participant in the assessment and generating views on Liberia Independence Day. He is a Master’s degree Student at AME University Graduate School. The Note was received through a WhatsApp Group on the 19th of July 2023.
[vi] Sidie Sherriff, Post on his Facebook on July 26, 2021. https://web.facebook.com/Sidie.Sheriff/posts/pfbid0HZuqGoHbqv4sXNdLjvUCLpPf33BYGAA5bAwsCzCF4KcKgX2RCQSXzZtxXm7nqgHSl accessed on July 23, 2023.