Go Back To Africa?

How the Congo People lived among the Indigenous In Liberia today, the names Americo-Liberians or Congo People are nearly extinct. They have become names referred to in the United States as negroes. The Americo-Liberians were light in completion or mallatos. They were considered civilized and made the indigenous know this about them. They had a segregationist policy towards the indigenous similar to what whites had with the indigenous in the United States. They did not marry indigenous people. However, they had children by them. Those in high government positions give their children different last names. This was similar to whites in the United States. Many enslavers had children by their slave maids and were kept as secret. It is even rumored that some enslavers who insisted on relocating African Americans were doing so to get rid of their children born by blacks in the United States. Many feel that some of the first presidents of Liberia were children of American politicians Historians say that one of those persons in high places, President Thomas Jefferson, who was in high position had black children by Sally Hemings, a biracial enslaved woman owned by the President. It is estimated that Thomas Jefferson had six children by Hemings. In Liberia, like Thomas Jefferson in the United States, President Tolbert had many children by indigenous young ladies. I know this because one of the young ladies that had a child with President Tolbert was my classmate on Belefanai Lutheran Mission (name withheld). After slavery was abolished, British and American ships were on the seas tracking all ships carrying slaves to the United States, Britain, and other places. They took them to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and other areas when they captured them on the high sea. The groups of slaves from the Congo Basin freed by American and British ships and brought to Liberia were known as the Congo People. They joined the Americo-Liberians and received the same preferential treatment as the Americo-Liberians. Others who joined the Americo-Liberians and Congos were the Barbadian and Caribbean captives. Some came from the West Indies. They all claimed to be the children of the founding fathers of Liberia. They did not only seek respect from the indigenous; they demanded it. Their slogan was, “Do You Know Who I am?” This slogan became popular in the 1960s and 70s. Once someone made that statement to you, you did not ask who they were; you assumed they were from the elite and you had to grant them whatever respect was demanded. A good thing the Congo People did was to educate children of the indigenous people. If your parents sent you or were asked by a Congo man to live with him, your last name was automatically changed to the Congo man’s name. Children brought to live with a Congo family did most of the house chores while the Congo people’s children went about playing or studying their lessons. Opportunities to travel abroad for school were a privilege automatically given to the children of the Congo People. In the late 60s that began to change as indigenous children were beginning to get scholarships to travel abroad, specifically to the United States for school Now, today, things are different. After decades of inter-marriages between the Congo People and the indigenous people, you cannot distinguish a Congo and an Americo-Liberian from an indigenous person. We all get the same respect and opportunities to go to school. Positions in the government are not for a particular group of people. Since the 1980 coup, there have been two indigenous presidents and two Congo or half Congo presidents (half meaning either the mother or father is indigenous). The names Americo-Liberian, Congo, indigenous are no longer heard. In fact, many Liberians are saying that when the Congo People were in power, Liberia had peace and the Congo people helped people unlike what is being said about indigenous presidents, that their governments are corrupt and they care only about themselves. Coup in Liberia and Insurrection in the United States