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Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the American Colonization Society Address #70105, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Primary Sources Uncharted Americana, 2020 (Acc. 20210901.4).

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Processed by: Chaitra Powell and Dawne Howard Lucas, September 2021

Encoded by: Dawne Howard Lucas, September 2021

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African Americans--Colonization--Liberia.
• American Colonization Society.
• Racism--United States--19th century.
• Slavery--United States.
• Southampton Insurrection, 1831.
• United States--Race relations.
• White supremacy movements--United States--19th century.

The American Colonization Society (originally known as the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America), was formed in 1816 to send free African Americans to Africa as an alternative to remaining in the United States. In 1822, the society established a colony on the west coast of Africa that became the independent nation of Liberia in 1847. The Society bought the land for the colony, Cape Montserrado, by force.

In August 1831, a group of more than 70 enslaved and free Black individuals, led by Nat Turner, killed at least 50 white people during the Southampton Insurrection (also known as Nat Turner's Rebellion) in Southampton County, Va., with rumors that the revolt had spread throughout the South. This rebellion, combined with the growing Black population in the United States, was used to reinforce the importance of ACS's mission.

Sixteen-page document, which appears to be presented as a speech, explaining and justifying the purpose of the American Colonization Society. The speaker cites the 1821 acquisition of Cape Montserrado on west coast of Africa, population data from the 1830 census (warning about the dangers of a growing Black population in the United States), and the Southampton Insurrection led by Nat Turner in 1831 (claiming to be about 1-2 years since "we heard of whole states agitated & alarmed"), as well as providing a lengthy justification of colonization with the mission of Christianity. The speech concludes by noting the need for funding.