Record #:

21471

Author(s):

Mitchell, Memory F.

Abstract:

A reprint of letters written on behalf of a group of 106 emancipated former slaves who had settled in a colony in Liberia begun by the American Colonization Society -- a group formed to facilitate the colonization of former slaves in Africa. The McKay settlers became free after a lengthy court case over the will of their former master, James Iver McKay of Bladen County. Traveling aboard the packet ship MARY CAROLINE STEVENS, the group left Norfolk on May 28, 1857. The letters, penned for the settlers by an intermediary, contain their requests for supplies and money, and demonstrate the difficulties that contributed, along with the American Civil War, to the eventual failure of the enterprise and the Society.

Source:

North Carolina Historical Review (NoCar F251 .N892), Vol. 70 Issue 4, Oct 1993, p430-465, il, por, map, f Periodical Website

Subject(s):

McKay, James Iver, 1792-1853; American Colonization Society; MARY CAROLINE STEVENS (Ship)