An African Republic by Marie Tyler-McGraw

Marie Tyler-McGraw will discuss and sign copies of her new book, An African Republic, on Thursday, February 7, 2008, at noon at the Library of Virginia.

An African Republic traces the parallel but divergent tracks of black and white Virginians’ interest in African colonization. She follows the experiences of the emigrants from Virginia to Liberia, where some became the leadership class, consciously seeking to demonstrate black abilities, while others found greater hardship and early death. The 19th century American Colonization Society (ACS) project of persuading all American free blacks to emigrate to the ACS colony of Liberia could never be accomplished. Few free blacks volunteered, and greater numbers would have overwhelmed the meager resources of the ACS. No state was more involved with the project than Virginia, where white Virginians provided much of the political and organizational leadership and black Virginians provided a majority of the emigrants.