An African Republic: Black and White Virginians in the Making of Liberia (John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture) [Hardcover]

Marie Tyler-McGraw (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807831670 | ISBN-13: 978-0807831670 | Publication Date: October 5, 2007

The 19th-century American Colonization Society (ACS) project of persuading all American free blacks to emigrate to the ACS colony of Liberia could never be accomplished. Who supported African colonization and why? No state was more involved with the project than Virginia.
Tyler-McGraw traces the parallel but seldom intersecting tracks of black and white Virginians' interests in African colonization. African colonization attracted aging revolutionaries, republican mothers and their daughters, bondpersons schooled and emancipated for Liberia, evangelical planters and merchants, urban free blacks, opportunistic politicians, Quakers, and gentlemen novelists. Tyler-McGraw follows the experiences of the emigrants from Virginia to Liberia, where some became the leadership class, consciously seeking to demonstrate black abilities, while others found greater hardship and early death.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A teachable book for upper-division courses and graduate seminars. . . . Doubles as a walk through an elegantly curated museum exhibit. . . . A central text to black migration history."
-Journal of Southern History

"An informative and insightful narrative that thoroughly explains the complications and desires surrounding Liberian colonization."
-- H-Net Reviews

"This provocative, well-researched book makes a significant contribution to the study of early Liberian growth. . . . Scholars as well as students of African studies will find this book a welcome interpretation toward reevaluation of the formative period of Liberia."
-- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"[A] promising addition to the ongoing discussion of the economics of migration."
— Journal of the Early Republic



"Strong and compelling. . . . Tyler-McGraw superbly demonstrates her skills as a careful researcher who keenly analyzes primary and secondary materials. . . . Important for all serious southern historians and upper-level students."
-- NC Historical Review

"An excellent book that demonstrates that the ACS was consequential; the body not only established Liberia, it also highlighted the debates on slavery in Virginia."
—Journal of American History

"[A] valuable book."
—Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Impeccable research. . . . A much-needed addition to African American, early republic, and US Southern historiography. . . . Highly recommended."
— Choice



"Well-written. . . . [Tyler-McGraw] carefully balances historical analysis with sympathy as she peels back the complex layers of the social environments on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean that gave birth to 'An African Republic'. . . . A valuable addition to studies in early post-revolutionary American history and the American beginnings of the Liberian republic."
— International Journal of American Historical Studies

"Breaks new ground in drawing attention to the way women from leading planter families, often in defiance of male relatives, expressed their opposition to slavery by supporting colonization and campaigning for voluntary manumission."
— Times Literary Supplement

Beautifully crafted and brimming with insight . . .
—Elizabeth R. Varon, Temple University

[Marie Tyler-McGraw] has given us a gift of scholarship that will fascinate as well as educate.
—James Oliver Horton, George Washington University, author of The Landmarks of African American History and coauthor of Slavery and the Making of America

About the Author

Marie Tyler-McGraw is an independent historian and public history consultant. She is author of At the Falls: Richmond, Virginia, and Its People (from the University of North Carolina Press).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (October 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807831670
• ISBN-13: 978-0807831670
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #605,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > History > Africa > Liberia
  • #32 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Virginia

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good work., January 6, 2010

By 

A. N. Wegmann - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An African Republic: Black and White Virginians in the Making of Liberia (John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture) (Hardcover)

This is an excellent, readable, well-researched history of the early founders of the Republic of Liberia and their origins in Virginia. Though esoteric by nature, this is an important work on the growing field of Liberian-American history. In my opinion, it is the best of the hand-full of recent publications on the Liberian-American connection during the antebellum years. It is certainly the best work on the American origins of the Liberian "Founding Fathers," all of whom emigrated from Virginia in the 1820s and 1830s. This book captures the strong, highly important, connection between Americans and the people of Liberia, importantly touching on the reliance of the latter on the former. Overall, a very good book. Well-written, well-researched, and well-published. A must read for anyone interested in African-American history, or, especially, Liberian, or West African, history.