American Colonization In Liberia

Beginning as early as the 18th century, the American people-both black and white-struggled to decide the fate of the Africans who had been brought to this new land. One plan that emerged was colonization, which involved sending African Americans to a colony in Africa established by the United States. This plan engendered great controversy among all; some saw it as the only way for the formerly enslaved to achieve a life free of discrimination, while others thought it was cruel to separate these people from the only home they had ever known. In 1817, the American Colonization Society was created to send African Americans to the colony of Liberia. A collection of letters from a slave named Rachel Eddington provide a vivid first-person account …show more content…
Mrs. Eddington accounted the sickness' effects on her children, ranging from 20 days of fever to "slight attacks" to "severe spasms" (17 August 1857). Though this illness was clearly devastating, the impoverished conditions were arguably worse. After Mrs. Eddington spent the "three dollars and some cents" she had been given for "nurishment," her children were "crying for [b]read" and had to beg for all of their food (17 August 1857). They were also forced to pay for necessities, such as washing and housing, and were given minimal tools with which to farm. Mrs. Eddington ended her first letter to Mrs. Belt with a plea for tools to build a house. Because Mrs. Eddington powerfully stated that Liberia was "not the country that was recommended" to her and expected assistance from her former mistress, it is clear to the reader that the slaves had been given false hope about what awaited them in …show more content…
Eddington's next letter, dated August 19, 1859, the reader learns that Mr. Eddington had left her, and she had not "[received] any answer from" him since then. She awaited his return, but provided a long list of necessities, including meat, flour, and soap, should he not come back for Christmas. Mrs. Eddington asked that Mr. Eddington "send means for [herself] and the children to return" so that he "need not come" back, which suggested that he had gone back to Kentucky (19 August 1859). On January 23, 1860, Mrs. Eddington wrote to Mr. Eddington again and mentioned that he had "not written a line" since he had left them. Mrs. Eddington begged Mr. Eddington to "send something to eat," because he was where "everything [was] so plenty" and life was even "harder [in Liberia] than when [he] left" (23 January 1860). These heartbreaking letters between husband and wife show that conditions in Liberia were so dismal that one could not even rely on his or her own family for