Back Americoliberians Catalan Amerikanoliberijci Czech Américo-liberianos Spanish Liberian afroamerikkalaiset Finnish Ameriko-Liberia ID Americo-liberiani Italian アメリコ・ライベリアン Japanese Либериялықтар Kazakh Либериялыктар Kirghiz Liberai Lithuanian
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2023) |
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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 150,000[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
 Protestantism, Catholicism (minority) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Sierra Leone Creoles, Black Nova Scotians, Gold Coast Euro-Africans, Atlantic Creoles, Afro-Caribbeans and African Americans |
| Part of a series on |
| African Americans |
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Americo-Liberian people (also known as Congo people or Congau people),[2] are a Liberian ethnic group of African American, Afro-Caribbean, and liberated African origin. Americo-Liberians trace their ancestry to free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans who emigrated in the 19th century to become the founders of the state of Liberia. They identified themselves as Americo-Liberians.[3]
Although the terms "Americo-Liberian" and "Congo" had distinct definitions in the nineteenth century, they are currently interchangeable and refer to an ethnic group composed of the descendants of the various free and ex-slave African American, Caribbean, recaptive, and Sierra Leone Creoles who settled in Liberia from 1822.
The designation "Congo" for the Americo-Liberian population came into common usage when these African Americans integrated 5,000 liberated Africans called Congos (former slaves from the Congo Basin, who were freed by British and Americans from slave ships after the prohibition of the African slave trade) and 500 Barbadian immigrants into the Americo-Liberian identity.[4][2] Under Americo-Liberian leadership, the country was relatively stable, though the Americo-Liberians and indigenous West Africans maintained largely separate existences and seldom intermarried.[5]
In addition to indigenous Liberian elites, chiefs and royalty, upper class Americo-Liberians led the political, social, cultural and economic sectors of the country and ruled the new state from the 1800s all the way to 1980 as a small but dominant minority. However, President William Tubman challenged the status quo and championed the cause of the tribes of the interior against the established oligarchy. [6][7]
- ^ "Americo-Liberians". BlackPast.org. 16 June 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
They are an estimated population of 150,000 [Americo-Liberians] out of the 3.5 million people in the nation.
- ^ a b Cooper, Helene, The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood (United States: Simon and Schuster, 2008), p. 6
- ^ Liberia: History, Geography, Government, and Culture, Infoplease.com
- ^ "About this Collection - Maps of Liberia, 1830-1870". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
- ^ "Settlement of Liberia and Americo-Liberian Rule". PeacebuildingData.org. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Archived from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- ^ "Kennedy, Felix Houphouët-Boigny, William Tubman, and Conservative African Nationalism". www.academic.oup.com.
- ^ "President William V. S. Tubman, 1944–1971". Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2020.