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visitor to monrovia in 1860 professed surprise at the “degree of refinement and taste” that he found among its residents and concluded that “an aristocracy of means and education is already set up.” “the virginians ,” he added, “are said to be the leaders of the aristocracy.” But the traveler did not really approve of the display of quality clothing: “The people generally dress above their means, extravagantly so, and the quantity of kid gloves and umbrellas displayed on all occasions does not promise well for a nation whose hope rests on hard and well developed muscles.”1 This observation by a white American was similar to those that might be found in antebellum American newspapers, where, as part of a general effort to maintain racial hierarchy, African American Sunday dress was often ridiculed as inappropriate for those of humble station. But from the perspective of the Monrovians, certainly including “the virginians,” it was as important to distinguish themselves from the indigenous Africans when new arrivals formed first impressions as it had been to display their Sunday best in America. For Monrovians, elaborate dress was an outward manifestation of civilized standards. Those on shipboard approaching Monrovia were usually favorably impressed by the lush beauty of the Cape Mesurado promontory . Because that coast’s heavy surf and sandbars made it nearly impossible for ships to get near the dock, vessels weighed anchor some distance out and passengers watched as lightly clad Kru boatmen rowed dexterously toward the ship to take them and their goods over the surf. Occasionally someone gazing out asked, “Are those the Liberians?” Just before shore, if the sea was turbulent, the boatmen sometimes left their canoes and carried the new settlers to dry land. This was the first contact with Liberia that many emigrants and visitors had. Perhaps to counter this initial impresEight Liberians in Africa and America A sion, Monrovians became known for their hospitality, and they sometimes ventured out in boats to greet the ships, well-dressed and bearing flowers and food.2 Although such displays may have encouraged class distinctions as well as a distancing from indigenous peoples, African Americans in Liberia felt themselves to be watched closely from the United States for signs of reversion to African norms. They believed their formal manners and formal clothing to be central to their survival as a distinct group in Africa and to their status as citizens, first in a colony and then in a republic. James Minor advised a potential emigrant from his native Virginia: “In your selection of ladies wear, do get some lady to assist you to make choices, for the ladies here are very flashy and wear no mean dresses.” Other Liberians complained that such former Virginians were “most too high-headed, and . . . all the time claiming that they are the quality of Liberia.” Baptist minister John Day agreed. Although he was a native Virginian and an educated man, he was not one of the urban free blacks who made up the James and Appomattox Rivers ascendancy in Monrovia. Instead, Day established a mission up the St. Paul’s River among the Bassa people. Skeptical of Virginian pretensions, Day once praised a fellow minister by saying: “He is not like our Virginia folks, who will venture into every discipline and show at first sight, the depth and brea[d]th of their little intellect.”3 Distinctions of class, color, and education that were a legacy of the American experience were exacerbated in Liberia by the fact that the earliest Virginia settlers were predominantly freeborn mulattoes of some education and financial resources who tended to cluster in Monrovia and engage in trade. Even among emancipated slaves from Virginia, class distinctions might prevail. Some accepted the widespread Virginian sense of superiority and felt themselves to be more culturally and socially elevated than emancipated slaves from the Lower South. For their part, the elite among the emigrants could pass swift judgment on the less polished. “Do not think much of the Kentucky delegates, (or explorers as they call themselves,) who came out in the ‘N. Rich.’ They appear to be rather selfconsequential , blustering and ignorant—perhaps ‘field hands,’ as [Liberian ] President Roberts told me he took them to be.”4 The social divisions apparent in these assessments demonstrate the extent to which the Liberian experience was shaped by the internalized American cultural and political beliefs carried by African Americans to Liberia. The American patriotic narrative and the American evangelical urge to conversion were basic reference...

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