The Azor BOMA Minute

In 1877 the Liberian Exodus Joint Stock Steamship Company was established with $6,000. On this day, April 21, 1878 two hundred and six formerly enslaved, fed-up Black folk set sail from Charleston, South Carolina headed for Liberia, West Africa. They made their flight upon a sailing bark called the Azor. It is reported that more than 5,000 area folk, fed up with slavery and Jim Crow, applied for passage.

The naysayers said repatriation would never work but despite America never really supplying adequate support to its former meal tickets, there were some notable successes. By 1890, the Azor passengers were well established and had proven their worth. The Reverend David Frazier opened a coffee farm with 20,000 trees and was elected to the Liberian Senate in 1891. Mr. Clement Irons of Charleston, built the first steamship constructed in Liberia. Mr. Saul Hill established a successful 700-acre coffee farm. One passenger, Daniel Frank Tolbert was the grandfather of Liberia’s 20th President, William R. Tolbert, Jr.

This has been a Breath of My Ancestors Minute brought to you by the Institute of Radical Reconciliation… #WeMustNeverForget