African Colonization by the Free Colored People of the United States, an Indispensable Auxiliary to African Missions.: A Lecture

In Short

This work is a pro-colonization lecture delivered by an agent of the American Colonization Society. It systematically contrasts the frequent failures of white missionary efforts in independent African territories with the relative stability and success of missions protected by the Liberian government. By documenting the high mortality rates of white missionaries and the volatile political climate of tribal regions, the text promotes the emigration of free African Americans to Liberia as both a religious necessity and a civilizing mission. It remains a primary historical record of the mid-19th-century "back-to-Africa" movement and its specific theological and political justifications.

The Story

The narrative begins with a stark premise: Africa has proven to be an intractable field for traditional missionary work. The author asserts that because African social structures, customs, and civil relations differ so fundamentally from other regions of the world, European and American attempts at evangelization have largely resulted in tragedy or failure. The core of the argument rests on the claim that the "barbarism" of the continent, fueled by the slave trade and internal tribal warfare, creates a hostile environment that rejects the message of the Gospel unless protected by a stable, civil, and sympathetic government.

The text moves through a detailed comparative analysis of missionary outcomes. It highlights the harrowing experiences of white missionaries, noting that in the first thirty years of work in Liberia, the vast majority of white laborers died or were forced to abandon their posts due to ill health. In contrast, the author points to the Republic of Liberia—a government formed on the American model and run by Black men—as a "Missionary Republic." Here, the author claims that the presence of a settled, civilized, and Christian Black population provides the necessary framework for missions to flourish. The author uses accounts from Bishop Scott and other official reports to demonstrate that in Liberian-governed areas, heathen customs are actively suppressed, Sabbath observance is strict, and schools are well-attended.

The argument then shifts to the dangers of the interior and the regions beyond the reach of colonial protection. The text recounts the struggles of various missionary boards in areas like South Africa and the Gaboon, where wars between tribes or clashes between European settlers and native populations frequently resulted in the destruction of mission stations, the murder of missionaries, and the total abandonment of the work. The author frames the presence of white settlers in South Africa as a new, aggravated obstacle, arguing that the collision of white and Black interests inevitably leads to the dispossession and suffering of the native population.

The lecture concludes by positioning Liberia as the only solution to these compounding failures. By "returning" the descendants of Africa to their ancestral soil, the author argues, the American Colonization Society is not merely facilitating migration but is actively suppressing the slave trade and replacing "heathen" superstition with republican, Christian civilization. The appendix reinforces this with letters from Liberian leaders and reports of successful legislative actions against slave-trading chiefs like Boombo. The work ends with a call to action for the free Black population of the United States, urging them to recognize that their role in the global spread of Christianity is the "indispensable auxiliary" to African redemption.

How It Unfolds

The failure of independent missions The author establishes that early efforts to evangelize Africa were largely experimental and failed due to the chaos of the slave trade and the lack of civil infrastructure. He argues that the Gospel could not take root where the slave-trader held undisputed sway.

The rise of the Missionary Republic The text transitions to Liberia, detailing how the governance of the territory by free Black citizens provided the security and order that white missionaries could not maintain on their own. Statistics regarding school enrollment and church membership are presented to validate this success.

The mortality of white missionaries A series of comparisons is drawn between the survival rates of white and Black missionaries, reinforcing the author's belief that the "Providence of God" intended for the African race to lead the civilization of their own continent.

The perils of the interior The narrative examines the destructive impacts of the Kaffir wars and other tribal conflicts, arguing that without a central government like Liberia’s, missions are inevitably vulnerable to the whims of local tyrants and the encroaching interests of foreign powers.

The mission as an instrument of law The final section illustrates how the Liberian government functions as a legal and moral authority, citing the trial and sentencing of regional chieftains as proof that the Republic successfully replaces "murderous cruelties" with order and justice.

The People

The central figures are not individuals in a traditional narrative sense, but rather defined categories of people who serve the author's ideological framework. The white missionary is presented as a tragic, well-intentioned, yet ultimately ineffective figure, destined to succumb to disease or conflict due to a lack of local roots. The native African is characterized as a "heathen" living in the darkness of "infancy" or "barbarism," whose only hope for moral elevation is the civilizing influence of a stable government. The free Black colonist—the Liberian citizen—emerges as the hero of the text. He is viewed as the "captive son" returning with the "lamp of the Gospel," possessing the unique capacity to bridge the gap between American political structures and the African interior. Figures such as Bishop Scott, whose official observations anchor the credibility of the report, and local leaders like President Roberts, function as authoritative voices confirming the success of the Liberian experiment. Collectively, these figures are arranged to prove that the success of the mission is entirely dependent on the race and civil status of the teacher.

In Its Own Voice

"The mission work in Liberia, therefore, has necessarily fallen into the hands of colored men; and, thus, the Providence of God has afforded to that race an opportunity to display their powers, and to show to the world what, under favorable circumstances, they are capable of achieving."

This passage summarizes the author’s central thesis regarding the divine necessity of Black leadership in the African mission field.

“The slave-trade, it would seem, is an evil so horrid, that the Almighty refused to give success to the missionary, unless that outrage upon humanity should first be suppressed.”

This quote explains the author's belief that early missionary failures were a direct result of the moral stain of the slave trade.

"We must still pound the rock, even though it is hard, and our mallets be but of wood. It will break one day."

This metaphor, attributed to the missionary Cox, reflects the patient, persistent, and grimly optimistic spirit of the movement.

What It's Really About

The book is fundamentally an argument for the ideological and practical necessity of the colonization movement. Beneath the discussion of missions lies a complex, 19th-century worldview that links Christian expansion to the creation of republican governments. The central question is whether the African continent can be "civilized" through direct missionary work, or if it requires the prerequisite of a stable, Western-style, Black-led government to succeed. It explores the tension between the "civilizing" influence of colonization and the "barbarism" of the native population, positing that colonization is the only way to reconcile these forces. It is a document of its era, capturing the belief that progress is synonymous with the imposition of specific legal, religious, and social codes.

Why Read It Today

Reading this work today is a challenging but vital exercise in historical perspective. The reader will encounter the paternalistic, period-specific attitudes of 1854, which view native African societies through a lens of profound bias and colonial assumption. The text is not a neutral history; it is a carefully curated argument meant to sway contemporary public opinion in Ohio and beyond. Readers interested in the history of the colonization movement, the American Missionary movement, or the mid-19th-century discourse on race and migration will find it an essential primary source.

The book feels like a legal brief for a moral cause, filled with reports, statistics, and letters designed to build an ironclad case. Its language is formal and persistent, though it occasionally breaks into high-minded rhetoric about the "redemption" of the African continent. It is not an easy read due to its dense argumentation and the discomfort inherent in its racial justifications. However, its value lies in its transparency; it provides a direct window into the mindset of those who believed that the solution to American racial strife and African evangelization lay in the specific political and religious experiment of Liberia. It leaves the reader with a stark, unsettling understanding of how 19th-century religious idealism often served to justify political projects.