The American Colonization Society (its full name was the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States) arranged for its first wave of colonizers to head for what is now Liberia in 1820. Along with the 86 ex-slaves (of whom only a third or so were adult men) were three white ACS agents (the membership of the ACS was predominantly white, and many came from the Southern states, hoping to induce freed slaves to emigrate to Africa).

The Elizabeth was accompanied on its voyage to Africa by an American sloop, the USS Cyane. Stopping first at Sierra Leone, they then sailed south to what is now the coast of Liberia and built a settlement. They were unsuccessful in convincing the local chiefs to part with land, and opted instead to settle the uninhabited Scherbo Island.

Amongst the agricultural supplies they brought were 100 muskets and two cannon, to be used to pacify the locals. Within the month 22 of the African American ex-slaves and all the three white ACS agents were dead of yellow fever. The remainder returned to Sierra Leone, to await the arrival of a further wave of colonizers sent by the ACS (which arrived a year later).

Although slavery has been practiced for almost the whole of recorded history, the vast numbers involved in the African slave trade has left a legacy which can not be ignored.

Whether slavery existed within sub-Saharan African societies before the arrival of Europeans is a hotly contested point between Afrocentric and Eurocentric academics. What is certain is that Africans were subjected to several forms of slavery over the centuries, including chattel slavery under both the Muslims with the trans-Saharan slave trade, and Europeans through the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The "Wind of Change" speech was made by the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, whilst addressing the South African Parliament during his tour of African Commonwealth states. It was a watershed moment in the struggle for black nationalism in Africa and the independence movement across the continent. It also signaled a change in attitude towards the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Find out more...

See Also:
Text of the "Wind of Change" Speech
Wind of Change: Verwoerd reply

"Civilized or not civilized, ignorant or illiterate, rich or poor, we, the African States, deserve a government of our own choice. Let us make our own mistakes, but let us take comfort in the knowledge that they are our own mistakes."

Thomas Joseph Mboya, Kenyan trade unionist and statesman, assassinated six years into independence, as quoted by GM Houser in 'Assessing Africa's Liberation Struggle', Africa Today, Vol. 34, No. 4, 1987.

"Speaking for my generation, our attitude was that we were on the threshold of not only rediscovering ourselves as a people, but of transforming ourselves in a way which would astonish the colonial powers who had held us down for so long."

Wole Soyinka, from an interview with Henry Louis Gates Jr., 'Wole Soyinka: Writing, Africa and Politics', The New York Times Book Review, 23 June 1985.