"Red Caps: The Liberian Frontier Force & African-American" Topic

…Officer Corps in Liberia, 1909-1930.

"The Republic of Liberia is a singularly unique African nation as the only country on the continent to be colonized by African descendants and exclusively self-governed by them in the 19th century. Liberia was supported originally by the American Colonization Society which procured territory on West Africa's Atlantic coast for both free slaves and African-American citizens from the northern United States beginning in the year 1822. Liberia proclaimed independence in 1847 with Joseph Jenkins Roberts (b.1809-1876) elected as the nation's first president.

Liberia's first professional military, the Liberian Frontier Force, or LFF, bears a controversial legacy as a colonial, anti-African constabulary. Organized, trained, and commanded by African-American U.S. Army officers beginning in 1910-1911, the Frontier Force was the primary military solution used to brutally subjugate the indigenous tribes of Liberia, 1909-1936. American influence on civil and military life in Liberia is undeniable even in the modern era, where American military advisers continue to train Liberian soldiers as recently as 2012. A National Geographic article from September of 1910, touted the country as the "only American colony in the world."…"

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