Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Liberia
The legacy of Liberia is a complex one. Within the Pan-African community Liberia is a nation which is typically criticized for being a American colony in which the returnees from the Diaspora established a society which was repressive and harsh towards the native population. Liberia is also a nation which does have its share of defenders who contend that Liberia should be viewed as a model example of Pan-Africanism and that Liberia is often unfairly judged.
Part of the problem with Liberia’s history is perception. We start with the reality that Liberia was a product of the American Colonization Society. It was for this reason that Martin Delany discouraged migration to Liberia. He stated: “Liberia in Africa, is a mere dependency of Southern slaveholders, and American Colonizationists, and unworthy of any respectful consideration from us.” In time, Delany softened his position on Liberia and even encouraged migration to Liberia. It should be pointed out, however, that Delany felt that his criticisms of Liberia were constructive criticism of the situation. When he visited Liberia, he received a letter which stated:
The undersigned, citizens of the city of Monrovia, having long heard of you and your efforts in the United States to elevate our down-trodden race, though those efforts were not infrequently directed against Liberia, are glad to welcome you, in behalf of the community to these shores; recognizing, as they do in you, an ardent and devoted lover of the African race, and an industrious agent in promoting their interests.”
Delany responded by stating: “You are mistaken, gentlemen, in supposing that I have ever spoken directly ‘against Liberia,’ as wherever I have been I have always acknowledged a unity of interests in our race wherever located; and any seeming opposition to Liberia could only be constructively such, for which I am not responsible.”
Generations later, Marcus Garvey decided to look to Liberia as the nation where he would lay the foundations for his plan to liberate Africa. The events which unfolded after this are recounted in my book, The Life, Goals, and Achievements of Marcus Garvey.
Garvey’s intention was to settle in Liberia. He told his audiences that they were going to Liberia for “the industrial, agricultural, commercial and cultural development of that country.” This plan was complicated by a number of factors. In the first place, Garvey’s movement was opposed by the colonial governments around the world. The Liberian government feared that France or Britain may have intervened in Liberia to stop Garvey.
Apart from the concern about what the colonial powers would have done, the Liberian government was also aware that the UNIA was critical of the treatment of the native African population. The Liberian government intercepted Elie Garcia’s report to Garvey. This report mentioned the use of Africans as “slaves”. Garcia also stated that “the Liberian politicians understand clearly that they are degenerated and weak morally and they know that if any number of honest Negros with brains, energy and experience come to Liberia and are permitted to take part in the ruling of the nation they will be absorbed and ousted in a very short while.”
In July 1924, UNIA engineers who were assigned the task of constructing houses in Liberia were arrested and deported as soon as their ship arrived. In August of that same year the Liberian Consul General in Baltimore, Maryland, met with Assistant Secretary of State William Castle. The Liberian Consul General made it clear that the Liberian government would deport any Garveyites who came to Monrovia.
Garvey would declare that the Liberian politicians “are afraid of me, for they realize they have no colleague in me to exploit the labor of the unfortunate blacks and build up class distinction…” This was in fact true. Garvey was seen as a threat to the leadership in Liberia.
W.E.B. Du Bois took a different approach to Liberia than Garvey did. In the first place, Liberia was the first African nation which Du Bois visited and this did have a profound effect on him. Unlike Elie Garcia, Du Bois stated nothing about the use of slave labor. He painted the opposite picture. He stated that Liberia “extended her democracy to include natives on the same terms as Liberians,” and that the nation “never had a revolution or internal disturbance save in comparatively few cases, with the war-like native tribes.”
When the League of Nations exposed the use of slave labor in Liberia, President Charles D. B. King was forced to resign. The report had proven what Garcia reported to Garvey was true, but Du Bois continued to defend Liberia. He pointed out that Liberia was being singled out, while the abuses which were taking place in the colonies in Africa were being ignored. Du Bois was correct to call out this hypocrisy, but the fact still remained that the Liberian government was involved in the use of slave labor.
The whole incident exposed that the leadership in Liberia was one which was not only corrupt, but which had aligned with the colonial powers in opposing Garvey. This historical incident not only shaped the way that many Pan-Africanists view Liberia, but it is also an incident which exposed the limits of Du Bois’ “Talented Tenth” ideology compared to Garvey’s more mass oriented approach. Du Bois aligned himself with the Liberian ruling class and continued to defend them even after their abuses were exposed.
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