Footsteps articles from January 2001

Footsteps archives from January 2001

Where Is Liberia?(history of Liberia)
January 1, 2001... Located slightly north of the equator, Liberia is a tropical country in West Africa, about the size of the state of Tennessee. It borders the Atlantic Ocean for approximately 350 miles. At its widest point, it reaches inland 150 miles. ...

The Vai Script.(Vai people of Liberia invent the syllabic writing called the Vai script)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The Vai people of northwestern Liberia have the distinction of inventing the earliest known linguistic writing system in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Vai script was devised in 1833 by Momolu Duwalu Bukele in the town of Jondu, near Cape Mount. The...

THE AMERICAN Colonization SOCIETY.(the settlng of small groups of African Americans in Liberia)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... In 1816, a group of about 50 wealthy, white Americans formed a society to resettle free black people in Africa. Robert Finley, a leader of this organization, gained the support of several influential public officials. Among them were...

Jehudi Ashmun.(a clergyman who was instrumental in getting African Americans settled in Liberia)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Jehudi Ashmun was a young Methodist clergyman when the American Colonization Society hired him to accompany 37 colonists to Liberia. The 28-year-old Ashmun eagerly embarked on this assignment. When he arrived in Liberia in 1822, he found that...

Virginia AND Liberian COLONIZATION.(many African Americans from Virginia participated in the Liberian colonization movement)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Many white slaveholders and non-slaveholders in Virginia feared free blacks would be an unwelcome influence on slaves. Free blacks were visible reminders that slavery was not the natural condition for blacks, and many whites viewed any...

Robert Hairston: SICK OF SLAVERY.(slaveowner who allowed his slaves to migrate to Liberia)
January 1, 2001... In the fall of 1832, Robert Hairston, one of' the richest slaveholders in Virginia, made a dramatic decision: He would set some of his slaves free. Hairston had to act in secret because he knew that his wife and other family members would try...

AN AFRICAN AMERICAN Daguerreotypist IN LIBERIA.(successful African American photographer finds even more success in Liberia)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Augustus Washington was a pioneer in the early history of photography. His skill as a daguerreotypist earned him success on two continents. The son of a former slave, Washington was born free in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1820 or 1821. He...

CHRISTIAN Mission Work IN LIBERIA.(African American missionary work in Liberia)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Scholars describe the 1800s as the greatest era of Christian missionary expansion since the early days of Christianity. In Africa, missionaries soon focused on Liberia, and mission boards were constantly seeking funds to finance their expensive...

Mancala, Africa's National Board Game.(making and using a mancala game: instructions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... On a hot afternoon in a Dan village, in the midst of a small shouting and laughing crowd, two men, squatting on short-legged stools, are playing mancala (man KAH la), possibly the world's oldest game. At least 200 versions are played in Africa...

Joseph Jenkins Roberts: THE OTHER PRESIDENT FROM VIRGINIA.(an African American from Virginia becomes the first president of the Republic of Liberia)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Virginia has had its share of presidents--eight to be exact. The most famous is George Washington. The least known is Joseph Jenkins Roberts. In 1847, this black Virginian became the first president of the newly independent nation of Liberia....

Our Great-Grandfather, Edward Wilmot Blyden.
January 1, 2001... In 1850, after a long sea voyage, an 18-year-old Caribbean set foot on Africa's shores for the first time. Edward Wilmot Blyden settled in the colonial town of Monrovia, Liberia, where black Americans were building a new nation. There he...

A Conflict of Interest.(ethnic groups in Liberia)
January 1, 2001... Approximately 5 to 10 percent of the Liberian population are descendants of African American settlers, formerly known as Americo Liberians. About 90 percent of the people in Liberia are African Liberians whose ancestors have lived in the area...

THE April 12 Coup.(April 12, 1980 coup in Liberia)
January 1, 2001... Liberian politics changed forever on April 12, 1980, when a small group of soldiers entered the president's mansion in Monrovia, took control of the government, and, in the process, killed President William R. Tolbert, Jr. The coup ended...

A Family Torn Apart by War.
January 1, 2001... When Natesha Bestman was born in Liberia in May 1990, her sister Samaria, age 5, went to visit her grandparents in the neighboring country of Guinea. Unfortunately, Liberia's civil war soon kept Samaria from returning to her family. Five...

Liberia AND THE WORLD ECONOMY.(Liberia's natural resources)
January 1, 2001... Liberia has three important natural resources: rich soil, mineral deposits, and dense rain forests. These have provided the foundation for Liberia's modern economy, namely the production of iron ore, rubber, and forest hardwoods. The rich...

Stewed Mangos.(Recipe)
January 1, 2001... Meals in Liberia, then and now, are enjoyed in a relaxed manner with a great variety of foods available. Many Southern United States foods and cooking styles are based on African tradition. Meals often begin with an appetizer, followed by...

Liberia Today.
January 1, 2001... Today Liberia is a study of contrasts that date to the early years of the country's existence. The violence and unrest that shook the 1980s and 1990s battered the country. When military forces led by General Samuel K. Doe assassinated Liberian...

A Toymaker in Liberia.(Saarenald T.S. Yaawaisan)
January 1, 2001... An extraordinarily gifted artist, Saarenald T.S. Yaawaisan began making toys of bamboo when he was living in Fissebue in Lofa County in northwest Liberia. He later moved to Monrovia, and there began adding flip-flop materials that he found on...

MORE ABOUT: BOOKS.(books and Web sites on Liberia)(Bibliography)
January 1, 2001... Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Basic Civitas Books, 1999) with its easy-to-use A-to-Z organization, includes more than 3,500 key word entries,...

YOUR PAGES.(Poem)
January 1, 2001... Your short poems, essays, and drawings are welcome--especially those related to upcoming themes: Voluntary Immigration to the U.S. and the American Negro Theater. All submissions must be your own, original work. Send them to: FOOTSTEPS...