| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 95.3

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 95.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

An African Republic: Black and White Virginians in the Making of Liberia. By Marie Tyler-McGraw. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. xiv, 249 pp. $34.95, ISBN 978-0-8078-3167-0.)
Relying on American Colonization Society (ACS) papers, letters, church records, articles, books, and other materials, Marie Tyler-McGraw examines the roles black and white Virginians played in the ACS establishment of Liberia in the early 1800s. Central to the study were the frequent interactions between blacks and whites in Virginia, despite the state's stratified social arrangements. One notable response to those interactions was the call for the colonization of free blacks, which in turn underscored the issues of slavery and the self-esteem of Virginia's whites.	1
Tyler-McGraw examines the rationales for Liberia's establishment, and she notes that while Thomas Jefferson advocated the colonization of free blacks, he never embraced the ACS. Other distinguished Virginians such as James Monroe, John Randolph, and Charles Mercer agreed with Jefferson's overall position and his rationale. Reasons others had for supporting colonization included: the presence of blacks in Virginia posed a threat to slavery and stability; colonization would lead to the establishment of a tolerant country for free blacks; and it would promote Virginia's pride. As An African Republic shows, a number of white Virginians became zealous colonizationists because of the insurrections of Gabriel Prosser in 1800 and Nat Turner in 1831. The presence of 49,342 free blacks in the state in the 1830s also played a role.	. . .

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