The back-to-Africa movement was a political movement in the 19th and 20th centuries advocating for a return of the descendants of African American enslaved people to most regions of the African continent. The small number of formerly enslaved who settled—some under duress—initially faced brutal conditions, due to diseases to which they no longer had biological resistance. As the failure became known in the United States in the 1820s, it spawned and energized the radical abolitionist movement. In the 20th century, the Jamaican political activist and black nationalist Marcus Garvey, members of the Rastafari movement, and other African Americans supported the concept, but few actually left the United States.
In the late 18th century, thousands of Black Loyalists joined British military forces during the American Revolutionary War. In 1787, the British Crown founded a settlement in Sierra Leone in what was called the "Province of Freedom", beginning a long process of settlement of formerly enslaved African Americans in Sierra Leone. During these same years, some African Americans launched their own initiatives to return to Africa, and by 1811, Paul Cuffe, a wealthy New England African-American/Native-American shipper, had transported some members of the group known as the "Free African Society" to Liberia. During these years, some free African Americans also relocated to Haiti, where a slave revolution had effected a free black state by 1800.James, C. L. R., The Black Jacobins (Vintage Press, 1963), and Wiggins, Rosalind (ed.), Captain Paul Cuffe's Logs and Letters (Howard University Press, 1996). On 18 November 1803, Haiti became the first nation ever to successfully gain independence through a slave revolt. In the following years, Liberia was founded by free Africans from the United States. The emigration of African Americans both free and recently emancipated was funded and organized by the American Colonization Society (ACS), which hoped that slavery could be ended as an institution, without releasing millions of former slaves into American society. The mortality rate of these settlers was high. Of the 4,571 emigrants who arrived in Liberia between 1820 and 1843, only 1,819 survived.
Background
White writers did not often discuss the question of where free black people of American birth should reside, as in the 18th century: "There had been few free blacks anywhere in the country." In 1776, slavery was legal everywhere in the Thirteen Colonies that became the United States through the American Revolutionary War. There was a small number of free black people. Pressures for ending slavery began small but steadily increased. Various philosophical and religious condemnations of slavery were published, especially by Quakers. Slavery became illegal in England in 1772 by court decision (see Somerset v Stewart), and in the British Empire by statute in 1833. In France, slavery was illegal at least since the 16th century. As part of the French Revolution, it was abolished in French colonies in 1794, although it was restored from 1802 to 1848. Starting in 1791, the enslaved of Saint-Domingue revolted, gaining their freedom, and establishing the free black country of Haiti. Starting with Pennsylvania and Massachusetts in 1780, slavery was gradually abolished in all the Northern states, although this did not mean that existing slaves were always freed. Vermont, which was not part of the United States at the time, abolished adult slavery in its foundational document of 1777. In the 1840 census, there were still hundreds of slaves in the North and millions more in the South. By the 1850 census, there were no slaves in the free states. In the South, sometimes influenced by appeals from preachers—abolitionism in the United States had a strong religious component—some individuals freed their slaves or left instructions in their will, to free them upon the owner's death.
The number of free black people in the new United States skyrocketed, and the question of "what to do with them" steadily grew in importance. Even when free, nowhere in the United States did they have the same rights as white people. They were not citizens, as the Dred Scott decision made clear. Usually seen as racially inferior, few whites believed them to be a desirable or even possible part of American society. They were prohibited from living in some areas and there was much completely legal discrimination. Black passengers on river boats were not allowed in the cabin but had to stay on deck, whatever the weather. In Florida, each free black man had to have a white man who could be sued for the Negro's misdeeds, if any, since black people could neither sue nor be sued. The Quaker Zephaniah Kingsley, who believed that the amalgamation of the races was desirable, was forced to leave Florida for Haiti. In the South, until it was forbidden, free black people learned to read and write, and often came into contact with the widely circulated abolitionist writings. The slave owners who controlled the Southern states saw these free black people as a threat to the stability of the economy and society, and made no secret of their desire to be rid of them.
The emergence of the back-to-Africa movement Much of the African-American population was freed people seeking opportunity. Many Southern freed blacks migrated to the industrial North to seek employment, while others moved to surrounding Southern states. No one anywhere wanted them; they were seen as perpetual foreigners who, by working for less, took jobs from citizens. Whites were not used to sharing space with blacks in a context outside of chattel slavery. Many did not believe that free blacks had a place in America.
In the North, many whites believed that blacks could not achieve equality in the United States and therefore pushed for their emigration to Africa, even though most had been born in the U.S. and had never seen Africa.
Such sentiment was not exclusive to Northerners. One proponent of the colonization movement, Solomon Parker of Hampshire County, Virginia, was quoted as having said: "I am not willing that the Man or any of my Blacks shall ever be freed to remain in the United States.... Am opposed to slavery and also opposed to freeing blacks to stay in our Country and do sincerely hope that the time is approaching when our Land shall be rid of them."
Riots swept the free states in waves, usually in urban areas where there had been recent immigration of blacks from the South. The height of these riots was in 1819, with 25 riots recorded, resulting in many injuries and fatalities,Davis, Ronald L. F., "Creating Jim Crow", The History of Jim Crow. Accessed 14 October 2007. . although riots continued up through the 1830s (see anti-abolitionism in the North). The back-to-Africa movement was seen as the solution to these problems by both groups, with more support from the white population than the black population. Blacks often viewed the project with skepticism, particularly among the middle class, who feared that the Colonization movement was a ploy to deport freed African Americans to restrict their efforts against slavery. Shortly after the foundation of the American Colonization Society, 3,000 free blacks gathered in a church in Philadelphia and issued forth a declaration stating that they "will never separate ourselves voluntarily from the slave population of the country." Similarly, black leaders, such as James Forten, who had previously supported the Colonization Movement, changed their minds as a result of widespread black resistance to the idea.White, Deborah Gray. "Slavery and Freedom in the New Republic." In ''Freedom on my mind''. S.l.: Bedford Bks St Martin's, 2012, pp. 186–188.
Religious motivations for colonization Following the Great Awakening, in which America was swept by a wave of religious fervor, many enslaved African Americans converted to Christianity. At the same time, many religious people in America struggled to reconcile slavery with their beliefs. Quakers in particular found difficulty in continued support for the enslavement of their brothers in Christ. For example, Reverend Moses Tichnell and Reverend Samuel R. Houston freed slaves and sent them to Liberia in 1855 and 1856, respectively. These two men, believing that they were morally obligated to finance such voyages, played an important role in the colonization movement.
American Colonization Society
The American Colonization Society (ACS) was an early advocate of the idea of relocating free blacks to West Africa. Founded in 1816 by Dr. Robert Finley, it was composed of two core groups: abolitionists and slave owners. Abolitionist members believed in freeing African slaves, along with their descendants, and providing them with the opportunity to return to Africa. Slave-owning members believed free blacks endangered the system of slavery and sought to expel them from America by means of migration.
The American Colonization Society came under attack from American abolitionists, who insisted that the removal of freed slaves from the United States reinforced the institution of slavery.
Since its inception, the American Colonization Society struggled to garner support from within free black communities. During the late 1840s and early 1850s, the creation of an independent Liberian state splintered the nearly uniform voice against colonization. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 provided the United States government with ample power to recapture fugitive slaves. Following its passage, many black leaders promoted emigration and colonization to a nation that would provide and protect their rights.
In spite of this, several black critics were outspoken against the back-to-Africa movement and the activities of the American Colonization Society. A report from a free black political conference in New York warned: "all kinds of chicanery and stratagem will be employed to allure the people [to the colony]...the independence of its inhabitants; the enjoyment and privileges of its citizens, will be pictured forth in glowing colors, to deceive you."
According to the Encyclopedia of Georgia History and Culture, "as early as 1820, black Americans had begun to return to their ancestral homeland through the auspices of the American Colonization Society." By 1847, the American Colonization Society founded Liberia, a land to be settled by black people returning from the United States of America."Back-to-Africa Movement", The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. 2007. The Central Arkansas Library System. Between 1822 and the American Civil War, the American Colonization Society had migrated approximately 15,000 free blacks back to Africa."July 26, 1847 Liberian independence proclaimed", This Day In History, History website.
Notable members of the American Colonization Society included Thomas Buchanan, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, Daniel Webster, John Marshall, and Francis Scott Key.
Other pre-Civil War attempts In 1811, Paul Cuffe, "a black man who was a wealthy man of property, a petitioner for equal rights for blacks", began to explore the idea of Black people returning to their native land; convinced that "opportunities for the advancement of black people were limited in America, and he became interested in African colonization." With the help of Quakers in Philadelphia, he was able to transport 38 blacks to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in 1815.
Martin Delany, an African American, in 1854 led the National Emigration Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. He visited Liberia. He made plans, largely unrealized, to assist Blacks in relocating there.
Post-emancipation