ORCID Identifier(s)

0000-0003-0366-2619

Graduation Semester and Year

2020

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in History

Department

History

First Advisor

Imre J Demhardt

Abstract

Previous scholarship has mostly left the story of recolonization of former slaves and Free People of Color to West Africa in the dustbin of history. These studies also have artificially separated the multiple failed attempts into the story of either Sierra Leone or Liberia. This dissertation, for the first time, looks comprehensively and comparatively at the transatlantic propaganda campaign that accompanied each wave of support and resulting failures and the part it played in the success of the abolition movement. Ever marching westward from its London roots, recolonization’s boosters repeatedly tried to build on an imagined community that had little to do with the realities in West Africa. At its heart, the propaganda campaign offered a chance to avoid the perceived problems with a bi-racial society and the expected economic collapse with the end of slave-based capitalism. Recolonization, rather than integration, was the perceived solution to the fears of the destruction of the white race at the hands of their black-skinned countrymen. However, the men and women at the heart of the migration scheme consistently showed their unwillingness to continue to be used as pawns. Understanding the full scope of recolonization shows that for both the few that went to Africa and the majority that stayed behind, white colonization schemes proved useful for creating a space for black-skinned people to negotiate autonomy in the white-dominated Atlantic World. While each attempt had mixed success at best at relocating people to West Africa, recolonization played an indispensable role in advancing support for the cause of abolition even with each failure.

Keywords

Moral capitalism, African American resistance, Abolition, Recolonization, West Africa, Segregation

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | History

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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