Tag: Liberia stamp

Liberia’s President for life William Tubman was the son of freed American slaves whose journey to Liberia had been paid by Augusta, Georgia philanthropist. Emily Tubman. The new arrivals took her surname in Liberia and settled together. When son William was elected President, it seemed natural to him to open the door to American blacks to provide the investment that post colonial Africa needed. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp from back in 1969, is an early version of the world stamp market farm out stamp. The subject, “The Heads of Negroes” drawing usually attributed to Dutchman Peter Paul Rubens is a good subject. It is today one of his most popular works as it captures the exotic nature of the subject, while not treating him in a disrespectful manner that one might expect from 17th century Antwerp.

Todays stamp is issue A197, a 10 cent stamp issued by Liberia on November 18th, 1969. It was a 16 stamp issue of paintings by the masters. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint, or as here cancelled to order.

Liberia was never a colony of Europe, but rather was established by freed American slaves who then politically dominated the areas native tribes. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/06/free-african-americans-colonize-africa/ . The freed slaves were never more than 10 percent of the population and a very low percentage of freed slaves in America opted to return to Africa. The Tubman group that was President Tubman’s heritage arrived in 1844. Emily Tubman felt the presence of freed slaves among those still enslaved was disruptive and put downward pressure on the wages of poor whites and paid for the journey of freed blacks who volunteered. William Tubman was a man of many occupations including a Methodist lay minister, a soldier, and a lawyer despite having little formal education. He served in the Liberian Senate and Supreme Court before being elected President in 1944. In the modern African style, he served the rest of his life.

Tubman, as President, believed that Liberia missed out on the benefits of colonization in that it did not receive the infrastructure improvements that African colonies received. For example, the capital Monrovia did not have paved streets, a sewer system, or proper port facilities when Tubman took office. He opened Liberia to America, especially targeting investment and he hoped a resident inflow from American blacks. In this he was assisted by the former wife of Jamaican/ American repatriation leader Marcus Garvey, Amy Ashwood Garvey. With her, President Tubman had an extramarital affair. Tubman achieved some investment in rubber plantations and iron mines but most of the benefit stayed with the few that were of American slave heritage. Meanwhile the population was exploding thanks to USA food aid. Not many black Americans moved to Liberia and it wouldn’t be long before the native Africans would not allow themselves to be dominated peacefully.

This Rubens drawing is not the style of work for which he is best known. At age 53, four years after the death of his first wife, Rubens married her 16 year old niece. She was the voluptuous model for the series of nudes that followed and for which Rubens is best remembered. “The Heads of Negroes” drawing resides in his museam in Antwerp, the city he did most of his work.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the late President Tubman. He brought some unique ideas to the table regarding post colonial Africa. Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is better remembered, but perhaps both men should have been more listened to in their time. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

As the 19th century went along, there were ever more African Americans that had their freedom. Some thought these folks were in a great position to set up an American colony in Africa. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp today is from 1921 Liberia. Liberia was one of the few countries of Africa that was not a colony of a European power. One might then hope that the stamp offerings would as such be a interesting local view of the Africa at the time. Instead we are faced with a very American style portrait of the President of Liberia. You see Liberia had a caste system in place where the tiny minority of people that could trace their lineage to America held all the political power. They retained American ways and this reflected in the no doubt American printed stamps. In this issue there were some African scenes and animals, but only the ones at silly high denominations, for stamp collectors.

Todays stamp is issue A76, a five cent stamp issued by Liberia in 1921. The stamp features President Daniel Howard. President Howard had left office in 1920 and lived until 1935. I can only think that the American printers did not know he was no longer President. By 1923 there was a stamp issue with the then current President, so eventually they got caught up. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used. I mentioned above some of the high denomination stamps in this issue. They have fared better in the market. The $1 stamp featuring a bongo antelope is worth $20 mint. The $5 stamp featuring an elephant is worth $32.50 mint.

Liberia was the idea of Paul Cuffe, a free African American who owned a shipping company.  His Ashanti father had been freed by his Quaker owner and married an American Indian that gave more property rights. Cuffe dreamed of sending ships full of freed slaves from America to the west coast of Africa where they would be free to build a new country. He believed that the Protestant religion and the relative educational achievement of the freed slaves would serve them well.

Cuffe foresaw his ships coming back full of Liberian goods to be sold in America. He had studied closely similar British activities in Sierra Leone and concluded not enough guidance had been given to quickly establish exportable crops. The first ship, named Mayflower of Liberia brought the first colonists in 1821.

The freed slaves did much to emulate what was learned in America. A constitution modeled an the American was enacted. The True Whig political party was modeled on the then USA Whig Party. Coffee plantations were formed. Even the architecture resembled America. Like the USA though, all of this only applied to Americo-Liberians. Indigenous tribes were not given any freedom and indeed where traded in contract labor schemes that resembled slavery in all but name.

Daniel Howard, the President on the stamp ruled during a troubled time in Liberia’s history. He faced an uprising from the Kru tribe of indigenous Africans. They had avoided slavery by developing a valuable skill of seamanship. Indeed they had taken to tattooing their foreheads to avoid being mistaken for slaves. They did not take well to being consigned to a lower caste in Liberia. The rebellion was only put down when an American Navy Cruiser the USS Chester appeared off the coast. It had been diverted to see that the Howard government did not fall.

World War I also occurred in Liberia while under President Howard.  He tried to remain neutral but the war cut off much of the trade that was so relied upon to service Liberia’s large debt. Desperate, Howard allowed the French to set up a telegraph station in Monrovia, the capital. The Germans protested and then attacked Monrovia from a U boat. This forced Howard to declare war on Germany and seize all German economic assets in the country. Liberia ratified the treaty of Versailles and joined The League of Nations

Howard served out two terms and left office in 1920. His successor was also a member of the True Whig party. Indeed that party ruled uninterrupted for over 100 years ending in 1980. His successor was even more unlucky than Howard. He was forced to step down after the League of Nations caught Liberia selling forced “contract” indigenous labor to Spanish colonists in the Spanish colony of Fernando Po.

Well my drink is empty. I wonder if the enterprise of Liberia would have gone better if enough freed blacks could have attracted enough freed slaves to enable a population majority of the area. Had he lived, it was the policy of Abraham Lincoln to encourage freed slaves to Liberia. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

What to do with African slaves that had achieved their freedom perplexed pre Civil War America. Both abolitoinists and those that still owned slaves agreed passage back to Africa was an option. The state of Maryland, with a large proportion of freed slaves appropriated money to start a Maryland in Africa. What of the Kru people of west Africa who had managed to keep Europeans to trading posts. Perhaps they might view freed American slaves not as long lost brothers but as black faced European invaders. Well some times there needs to be more consultation and the harbor island on the stamp is the perfect place for it. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp displays Providence Island in Monrovia harbor. The first sight of Africa for the African-American colonists. Not much to look at really but reflective of the challenge facing the new arrivals from America and the adjustments to the status quo required by the native Kru people.

Todays stamp is issue A58, a 3 cent stamp issued by Liberia in 1915. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Providence island was a trading post set up the Portuguese. Trading occoured with the native Kru people who were not themselves slaves but traded them. They were a seafaring people and so could come to the island by canoe. The Portuguese built very limited facilities but a fresh water well a stone building some fruit trees and a small pier were the only infrastructure for miles on this area of the African coast. These were just not things built by the Africans for themselves.

The state of Maryland had a high proportion of freed slaves especially around Baltimore. The Haitian Revolution in 1820 and the Nat Turner slave rebellion convinced the then white government that the situation was not sustainable. See this Brazil stamp,  https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/18/brazil-1891-an-elite-overthrow-the-monarchy-to-avoid-a-haitian-outcome/  , that shows the influence of Haiti there. The legislature appropriated money to send free blacks to Africa in a rival to Liberia state of Maryland in Africa. It proved a hard sell to the freed slaves but 4500 were sent to Maryland in Africa by the 1840s. The native Kru people had not been consulted.

Of the 4500 hundred colonists only 1800 survived. The Kru people rose up against the state of Maryland in Africa and stated their alliegance to Great Britain and their desire that Maryland in Africa and Liberia should be merged into neighboring British colony Sierra Leone. This is not really what they wanted but implying Britain was on their side surely must have intimidated. Maryland appealed for help from Liberia and when it arrived the Kru were driven back and Maryland in Africa and Liberia merged with Maryland becoming a county of Liberia. The American state of Maryland was only able to  persuade 2 percent of the freed blacks in Maryland to try their luck in Africa.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the survivors of the colonists in Liberia. With no infrastructure and unfriendly natives all around, it is amazing they weren’t just wiped out. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.