Go Back To Africa?

By Dr. Ranney B. Jackson Sr. Ph.D.

The title of this book, “Go back to Africa?” is a statement offensive to African Americans. African Americans feel offended because despite all they have endured and done for the United States in terms of slave labor, defending the United States in two world wars and civil war, protecting whites against the indigenous, there are still Americans who feel that they do not belong in the United States. Despite the U.S. Government’s acceptance of African Americans through the constitution, the 13th and 14th amendments, the emancipation proclamation, and other documents, African Americans feel discriminated against. This feeling began from 1790 to 1800 when Whites felt that African Americans should be relocated to Africa due to their increased population. The American Colonization Society was formed in 1816 and relocated African Americans to Liberia. Those who relocated to Africa encountered similar struggles with the indigenous as the Europeans when they settled in the Americas. The Americo-Liberians, as they are called, established a similar government as the United States. In 1980 a Master Sergeant, Samuel Doe staged a blooded coup d’état against the Americo-Liberian government. Doe caused President Tolbert’s assassination and ordered the execution of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Chief Justice among others. On January 6th, some Americans staged an insurrection, which many classified as a coup d’état. The author argues that the insurrection was not a coup and calls on his readers to compare Liberia’s 1980 coup to the January 6th insurrection. In 1990, Liberia encountered a 14-year civil war similar to the American Civil war of 1861. The author admonishes Americans about the consequences and implications of coup d’états and civil wars and asks Americans to avoid either.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665556422

Dr. Ranney B. Jackson Sr. Ph.D.

Dr. Ranney B. Jackson Sr. was born in Bong County, Liberia. He graduated from the University of Liberia in 1978 and traveled to the United States in 1979 for his Master’s Degree. He enrolled at Oklahoma City University, where he earned an MBA degree in Finance in 1984. In 1986, Dr. Jackson returned home. In Liberia, he served as Senior Financial Analyst at the Liberia Electricity Corporation and later as Deputy Comptroller for Debt Management at the Ministry of Finance. In 1990, Dr. Jackson fled to the United States as a refugee due to the civil war in Liberia. Dr. Jackson worked with the Maryland State Highway Administration until his departure to Ghana in 2003 in such of peace for Liberia. Upon his return to the U.S., Dr. Jackson was asked by Liberians in the Diaspora to represent them at the Liberian Legislature. Dr. Jackson served two years at the Legislature, five years as Superintendent (Governor) of Bong County, and two years as Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2015, Dr. Jackson returned to the U.S. and enrolled at Walden University in 2017, where he earned a Ph.D. in January 2022 in Public Policy and Administration. Positions held by Dr. Jackson include Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA), President of People’s Community Lutheran Church Council, Maryland, USA, a Member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Liberia and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Cuttington University, Bong County, Liberia.

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Go Back To

Africa?

DR. RANNEY B. JACKSON SR., PH.D.

AuthorHouse™

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© 2022 Dr. Ranney B. Jackson Sr., Ph.D. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/27/2024

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5643-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5641-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5642-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022906286

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Discovery of America

Chapter 2 Arrival and Establishment of the English

Chapter 3 The American Revolution

Chapter 4 The Slave Trade

Chapter 5 Atrocities against African Americans in the United States

Chapter 6 Rebellions and Uprising Between the

Chapter 7 The Civil War

Chapter 8 Creation of the American Colonization Society

Chapter 9 African Americans Resettlement in Africa

Chapter 10 The Gongors and Indigenous People

Chapter 11 Coup in Liberia and Insurrection in the United States

Chapter 12 Conclusion and Lessons Learned

References

Introduction

I n recent times in the United States, precisely, between 2016 through 2020, we saw many resentments towards people of color. We visited on TV names and pictures of African Americans who had been killed at the hands of the Police. Few of those prominently featured killed were George Floyd (46), Breonna Taylor (26), Alton Sterling (37), Elijah McClain (23), Philando Castile (32), Rayshard Brooks (27), Daunte Wright (20), to name a few. According to Statista Research Department, there were 223 African Americans killed by police in 2017, 209 in 2018, 235 in 2019, 241 in 2020, and 263 in 2021. A slogan that continued to ring in the minds of African Americans during that period and even as I write this book was, Go Back to Africa. The slogan used against African American protesters simply means, go back home to Africa from where your ancestors came.

Many Americans thought over the years that the horrors of such statements in the United States had vanished, especially publicly, but they were all wrong. Before coming up with the title of this book, I assumed that many people had not heard this statement on TV, but I was wrong. In researching the slogan, Go Back to Africa, I came across two articles that indicated I was not the only one hearing this slogan on TV. The first article was written by Batty, F (2016) of the Washington Post entitled How to Understand the complicated history of go back to Africa. The second article was written by Dicker, R (2016) entitled Man at Trump Rally Yells Go Back to Africa at Black Woman. Batty states that the statement was made at a Trump canceled rally on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago on March 11, 2016, against a protester who did not like the statement being used on them. Many African American protesters asked themselves, Go back to Africa?"

The title of this book came from that question, Go back to Africa? How do we go back to Africa? Our ancestors came to this country more than 400 years ago, and even historians are now saying that Africans were in America before this period. We know nowhere else as our home but the United States, so how can we go anywhere else? But the fact is that many people making this statement do not know or understand the implications. One of the purposes of this book is to understand how African Americans got to America, their contributions to the development and protection of America, and their defense of Whites against the Indians that were met here.

What can also be said about some of the people who use this slogan is that either they have no historical knowledge about the background of African Americans in the United States, or they are not aware that the process of relocating African Americans to Africa was tried more than 200 years ago and failed. So, if resettling African Americans to Africa 200 years ago failed when Africa was just a vast land without established countries, how possible will it be today to relocate African Americans to Africa where you now have established countries? It is like the Indians telling whites to go back to Britain. How is that possible?

It would also seem that those who conveniently tell an African American to go back to Africa do not know the American constitution. The American Constitution states, A person is an American citizen if born anywhere in the United States or its territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Constitution also states that a person can become a United States citizen if the person was born in another country and then naturalized in the United States. Also, African Americans’ rights to citizenship are stated in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people, and guaranteed all citizens equal protection of the laws.

The 14th Amendment was passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for African Americans. Therefore, with this clarity, one can see why an African American will feel that a person making such a statement is not knowledgeable about the U.S. Constitution. Worldwide, there have been several settlements of people. For example, the settlement of the Jews in Israel and their struggle against those met there. However, this book concentrates only on the settlement of formerly enslaved people to Liberia, West Africa, and the settlement of Europeans to the Americas, now the United States. The book shows the similarities these two countries share, such as where some of their presidents were born, the similarity of their flags, their civil wars, and their historical connection.

The book discusses the contributions of African Americans to the development and survival of the United States. It highlights the sufferings of African Americans through slave labor, lynchings, and discrimination. The question is, why hasn’t all this made a positive impact in the hearts of those who tell African Americans to go back to Africa?

The book provides information on the role of the American Colonization Society (ACS) in settlement of Freed African Americans in Liberia, giving a timeline of their settlement, their struggle, and their form of government. The materials used in this book are taken from records of the Library of Congress and ACS documents given to the Library of Congress dating back from 1792 to 1964. The book provides some similarities to the settlement of Europeans in the Americas. This book also explains why many Liberians feel that the relationship between the United States and Liberia should be more than a token relationship.

The book provides an understanding that what Abraham Lincoln said decades ago had not fully happened when he said, "Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth