An African Republic: Black and White Virginians in the Making of Liberia (review)

An African Republic is one of several recent works examining American efforts to colonize Africa in the nineteenth century. Tyler-McGraw contends that the study of the colonization movement provides insight into the meaning of "citizenship in a republic and race as a category" in nineteenth-century America (1). Tyler-McGraw's study adds to the literature by examining Virginia's role in the movement. In her analysis, the state of Virginia played a central part in the colonization movement as well as in the national discourse over the future of bonded labor in the United States. Virginia was central to the movement, Tyler-McGraw claims, because of its location between the North and South (3-4). As an Upper South state, Virginians understood the "interests of both sections" of the country (4); thus, Virginia offered the best hope in resolving questions about the status and future of African descendants in the United States (24-27).

The methodology and interpretation of the African colonization movement and the American Colonization Society (ACS) in this work reflects current trends in the scholarship. Relying on vast collections of ACS and state colonization societies as well as personal correspondence, An African Republic traces the movement's origins in Virginia as it gained momentum to become a national effort. Central to the formation of the ACS were events in Virginia such as Gabriel Prosser's Rebellion and the influence of revolutionary ideals. Slave rebellions combined with revolutionary era notions of citizenship provided the impetus for colonization as a solution to the contradictions exposed by the presence of free and enslaved African Americans. The interpretation places the movement in an antislavery context, suggesting colonization advanced emancipation towards the peaceful extinction of slavery (43). In the following chapters, Tyler-McGraw details the colonization program in Virginia, the reasons both black and white Virginians supported or opposed the movement, and the experience of American settlers who went to Liberia. The focus on Virginia adds to the scholarly discourse, though those specifically interested in West Virginia history may find little to interest them.

What distinguishes this work from other studies of colonization in the nineteenth century is the section on women as colonizationists. The majority of studies merely mention women in colonization; Tyler-McGraw dedicates an entire section to their role in the movement. Broadly speaking, women participated in colonization for the same reasons they were prominent in social reform efforts such as temperance and antislavery. Activism in colonization gave women a chance to "engage the world of ideas and actions and to demonstrate their abilities" (86). Most contend that women's participation in reform movements was the only accepted means for them to influence the budding American republic. Tyler-McGraw contends, however, that women involved in African colonization sought to remake their society on a more personal and local level. Female supporters believed that "encouraging respectability, piety, and education in black families would enhance those qualities in their own white families" (84).

The text concludes with a discourse on Liberians in Africa and America and how the colonization movement became a footnote to history after the Civil War. American social, political, and cultural influences on Liberia are well documented. Consistent with her goal of demonstrating Virginia's centrality to colonization, Tyler-McGraw focuses on the influence Virginia emigrants had on the development of Liberia, particularly because so many of them became leaders in the African republic. Their presence shaped the Liberian historical narrative in a way similar to that in which Virginians contributed to the American narrative. Despite the obvious connections between Liberia and the United States, the colonization movement has, as the author points out in the last chapter, become a novelty in American history. Colonization was made moot by the American Civil War and became an afterthought by the end of the nineteenth century. This was due as much to American events as it was to the...