Slavery and the Troublesome Question

Chapter 2 establishes the background and context for the colonization movement, examines motives of supporters and opponents, and examines the establishment of the Liberian colony. For ninety-three years, the American Colonization Society supports emigration of freed slaves and freeborn black people from the United States to Liberia, ultimately transporting 16,000 people across the ocean. It is the largest out-migration in American history.

I Cannot Banish the Horrid Picture

In 1840, the white Liberian governor, Thomas Buchanan, steps aboard a schooner in Sierra Leone. The stench hits him immediately: sweat, vomit, putrefying wounds, human waste, and the unmistakable smell of corpses. Even a brisk sea breeze can’t sweep it away. The governor of Sierra Leone tells Buchanan that there were 427 slaves aboard the ship when it was captured off the coast of West Africa. One justification for colonization was that the presence of former slaves in Liberia would help discourage the slave trade. But despite laws, good intentions, and concerted efforts to halt the trade, it continues for decades after the first colonists arrive.

We Are All Needy

In May 1839, about two and a half years after the Luna arrives in Bassa Cove, local warriors known as the Fishmen attack the settlement, and Tolbert’s youngest son, Washington, is wounded. Tolbert writes to Ben and tells him of the attack: “I have seen very many things since I have seen you. Some are new & interesting in the highest degree & some again are too horrible to mention. . . . We are all needy & should be glad if you would send us out some things, if you please. We are trying to get along again.” His words reflect two recurring themes: the settlers’ desire to succeed independently in their new life and the reluctant admission that continued help from America is necessary, at least initially. The chapter introduces Governor John J. Matthias and prominent settler Louis Sheridan.

We Have Had War with the Natives

Agnes Harlan’s son Lewis is dying of malaria. Despite her fervent prayers and attentive care, she loses her oldest child. On average, 20 percent of every boatload of immigrants to Liberia dies of malaria in the first year. In Tolbert Major’s May 1839 letter to Ben, he includes a short note to another man, James Moore, in which he reveals that Agnes has lost two of her sons since arriving in Liberia. Tolbert asks Moore to contact George Harlan, Agnes’s former owner, to tell him the news. The chapter discusses risks to health in Liberia, similar health risks in America, the Liberian system known as “pawning,” and a recent war with some of the indigenous people.

The Scene of Suffering and Misery Is Beyond Description

All was not peaceful in Liberia in the months before the Majors and Harlans (the Majors’ former neighbors from Kentucky) arrived. In a flashback, chapter 5 reveals the violence that awaits the new settlers. Port Cresson is a small settlement established by the New York Colonization Society and the Young Men’s Colonization Society of Pennsylvania. The village, near where the Luna will disembark passengers a year later, is attacked by a group of indigenous warriors in June 1835. In a single horrible night, twenty people—three men, four women, and thirteen children—are slaughtered. Survivors flee to nearby Edina. The slave trade, supported by many of the indigenous ethnic groups, is behind the attack. The vice agent of the colony survives the attack, but he and his wife are done with Liberia and promptly sail for America. Thomas Buchanan, a cousin of James Buchanan who would later become president of the United States, replaces Hankinson as agent.

We have Not Lived in Vain

This chapter opens with a quotation from an essay penned by Ben Major’s niece, Margaretta Major, in which she concludes that by living a Christian life, the faithful could draw others to Christ and “We [will] not have lived in vain nor labored in vain.” Ben, his family, and his friends live their faith daily, building churches and schools, and helping one another. Ben supports local merchants, pays tuition for one of his nieces, buys items to send to Liberia, donates land to the community, and practices the Thomsonian system of botanical medicine, nursing his neighbors back to health.

Send Me Some Carpenter Tools (and Bonnets)

In Austin Major’s letter to Ben in 1849, he shares family news and asks for carpentry tools, cloth, writing paper, and bonnets for his wife and daughter. The Liberian settlers do not know the Africans’ world; they know only their own world, and they try to recreate it in their new homeland. The men wear frock coats and top hats; the women wear American-style dresses, bonnets, and shawls. They continue to speak English, give English names to their children, and build American-style frame houses. Many of them also exhibit a sense of superiority or arrogance toward indigenous Africans, attitudes that will eventually tear the country asunder.

I Have Been in the Legislature

In January 1846, Wesley Harlan, now nineteen, visits Monrovia, sixty miles northwest of his home. As he walks around the capital, he recalls his arrival in Liberia ten years earlier. Now he’s come to Monrovia to attend a church conference and to witness the legislature in action. Following his visit, Wesley writes to James Moore, a former neighbor in Kentucky. Wesley provides valuable information about the colony and an extensive overview of the major settlements. James Moore later forwards Wesley’s letters to the American Colonization Society, which publishes them in their periodical, The African Repository.

Afterword

The author’s concerted efforts to discover the fate of the surviving Majors and Harlans in Liberia are unsuccessful. However, the epilogue reveals what happened to Ben’s widow, Lucy, and the rest of his family after his death; summarizes the remaining years of George Harlan, who had freed Agnes Harlan and her family; examines the continued work of the American Colonization Society; and looks at the subsequent and rocky history of the Republic of Liberia. The afterword concludes by noting that the vine-and-fig-tree passage in Micah is preceded by this one: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The author ends by expressing her hope that the people of Liberia will be able to build a stable nation where they can all live in peace under their own vines and fig trees.

He Was Killed by Those Barbarous People

Tolbert Major yawns and glances at his brother-in-law, Asbury Harlan. All is quiet in Fishtown. Garrison duty is often boring. Usually, there are five men on guard and he has someone to talk to besides Asbury. However, on the morning of November 5, 1851, the three other guards have volunteered to help build houses for new arrivals. From his vantage point, Tolbert glances toward the settlement. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots movement in the underbrush. The hostile Fishmen kill Tolbert, Asbury, and several others in their assault on Fishtown. They attack Bassa Cove a few days later. Wesley Harlan is shot in the face and subsequently loses an eye. Tolbert’s widow writes to Ben and breaks the news.