A Two Thousand Fold Agency. [Liberia, Africa Colonization Schemes]

Promoting colonization of African Americans in Liberia

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1870s broadside issued by the Ohio Colonization Society promoting colonization of African Americans in Liberia.

The society was formed in 1827 to encourage Black Ohioans to emigrate to Africa; they were still active after the American Civil War. Here the Ohio Colonization Society seeks to encourage emigration for the purpose of evangelizing “...the very heart of ‘Ethiopia,’ and unfurl upon its mountains and in its valleys the blood-stained banner of the Cross.” The “Two Thousand Fold” refers to the 2,000 individuals who came to Liberia “...in the colonization ship ‘Golconda.’”

The broadside is signed in print by B.F. Romaine, Corresponding and Financial Secretary of the Ohio Colonization Society. It includes excerpts from a letter from Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, and a New York newspaper:

[“I] therefore adopt the remark I have lately seen in a printed sheet, that ‘Christian emigrants, permanently located, can best evangelize the continent of Africa.’ And I would regard it as unfortunate for Liberia and for Africa, if emigration from the States should be stopped.”

Rev. Benjamin Franklin Romaine (1820–1874) was born in Poughkeepsie, New York and graduated from Rutgers College in 1842. After graduation he moved to Albany, New York and, until 1857, when he became a minister, edited the American Spectator. “In [1868], he accepted the Secretaryship of the Ohio Colonization Society, and removed to the city of Columbus in that state at the call of duty.”¹

Six copies under three accession numbers in OCLC. Not found in standard references.

Price: $300.00