Atlantic Passages - by Robert Murray (Paperback)

About the Book

"Countering assumptions that the West African colony of Liberia was an endpoint in the journeys of the free people of color who traveled there, Robert Murray reveals that many Liberian settlers returned repeatedly to the United States, and he explores the ways this movement shaped the construction of race in the Atlantic world"--

Book Synopsis

Tracing the movement of people to and from Liberia in the nineteenth century

Established by the American Colonization Society in the early nineteenth century as a settlement for free people of color, the West African colony of Liberia is usually seen as an endpoint in the journeys of those who traveled there. In Atlantic Passages, Robert Murray reveals that many Liberian settlers did not remain in Africa but returned repeatedly to the United States, and he explores the ways this movement shaped the construction of race in the Atlantic world.

Tracing the transatlantic crossings of Americo-Liberians between 1820 and 1857, in addition to delving into their experiences on both sides of the ocean, Murray discusses how the African neighbors and inhabitants of Liberia recognized significant cultural differences in the newly arrived African Americans and racially categorized them as "whites." He examines the implications of being perceived as simultaneously white and Black, arguing that these settlers acquired an exotic, foreign identity that escaped associations with primitivism and enabled them to claim previously inaccessible privileges and honors in America.

Highlighting examples of the ways in which blackness and whiteness have always been contested ideas, as well as how understandings of race can be shaped by geography and cartography, Murray offers many insights into what it meant to be Black and white in the space between Africa and America.

Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Review Quotes

"An innovative addition to the growing body of scholarship on Liberian colonization. . . . Required reading for anyone interested in the colonization movement or identity formation in the nineteenth century Atlantic World."--Journal of Social History

"A compelling narrative of Atlantic and American racialization in West Africa. . . . People interested in the histories of West Africa, the United States, Black Atlantic, and slavery and race-making will find Atlantic Passages deeply insightful and refreshing."--Journal of Early American History

"Centers discussion of Black settlers' experiences negotiating issues of race, colorism, class, and gender in Liberia. . . . Show[s] us how there is more that we can learn from and write about with respect to the histories of Liberian colonization."--Early American Literature

About the Author

Robert Murray is associate professor of history at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York.