Africa-Press – Liberia. Mr. Kenneth Y. Best laying wreath on the monument in commemoration of the 159th Founders Day of Crozierville when the 346 African-Barbadians settled in Liberia
Some direct descendants of some of the Barbadians who landed in Liberia in 1865 in search of a new home
Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Ambassador Lorenzo Llewellyn Witherspoon (in white) were also present. Ambassador Witherspoon is a descendant of John Prince Porte
One hundred and fifty-nine years ago, on April 6, 1865, 346 African-Barbadians, sailed from Bridgetown in Barbados, looking for a new home in Africa. Of this figure, which comprised 50 families, 260 settled in present-day Crozierville, a settlement, outside Monrovia. They arrived in Liberia on May 10, 1865.
On the 100 anniversary in 1965 of their arrival in Liberia, their descendants have always remembered the day their forebears made Crozierville their home.
So, it was again on Friday, May 10, 2024, 159 years later, that some of those 346 Barbadian descendants remembered their forebears.
Soon-to-be 86-year-old Mr. Kenneth Y. Best, whose lineage is tied to Mr. John Prince Porte, one of six Portes, who left Bridgetown on that day, April 6, 1865, laid the wreath on the monument in memory of his predecessors.
Mr. Best, who is at the moment Liberia’s oldest practicing Journalist, said their ancestors had come to these shores in 1865 to find a new home. “In 1865, Barbados was still an English colony and it was ruled by Great Britain. And, these people who came wanted to live in a country ruled and governed by black people like themselves. So, they decided to come back to Africa, the land of their Fathers.”
He further narrated that a few men helped with money for those Barbadian emigrants to make the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Mr. Best, who is also a writer and historian, said the settlement was named Crozierville in honor of John and Samuel Crozier, who funded the trip of the emigrants on the Brig Cora, the ship that brought them to Liberia.
“So, I lay this wreath in commemorations of the founding of our great and historic township of Crozierville,” Mr. Best, an eminent citizen of Crozierville, said.
The ceremony, which is dubbed “Founders Day,” brought together other eminent citizens, who, too, are descendants of Barbadians.
Some of noticeable names today of those whose forebears emigrated from Barbados are Portes, Weeks, Barclays, Wiles, Padmores, Thorpes, Murrays, Goodridges, Holders, Greaves, etc.
So, on Friday, the Founders Day celebration commenced with a parade and it was led by Acting Township Commissioner J. Nathaniel B. Holder.
The Croziervillians’ Founders Day program was chaired by another descendant, Cllr. Angelique Weeks. Giving a brief history of the day, Cllr. Weeks said: “On May 10, 1865, the ship called Brig Cora, from Barbados, arrived in Monrovia with 346 emigrants, judiciously selected and dispatched at the expense of the American Colonization Society. And Natives of the West Indies and generally acquainted with the agriculture of the tropical latitudes believed that they would not only improve their condition but help to develop the resources of Liberia.”
Former Information Minister and Director General of Liberia’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Reginald B. Goodridge, an eminent citizen of Crozierville, served as the keynote speaker of the day. Mr. Goodridge spoke on the theme: “Our Crozierville Today, and the Crozierville We Want Tomorrow; How Do We Get There?” Throughout his lecture, he interacted with the elderly, women, and youths on the topic of the day.
During his interaction with present-day residents of the township, it was revealed that Crozierville, like other places in Liberia, is plagued with many vices, including a lack of basic amenities and the perennial issue of illicit drug use among young people.
Notwithstanding, he said their settlement remains one of those places where some ugly things, including tribal divide and land conflicts, have not shown their “ugly heads. Together, we are one. So, that is one of the good things.”
“We must protect Crozierville. We must protect the land in Crozierville; we must protect the legacies in Crozierville,” he added.
He cautioned the township council to put in place legislation, including that before anyone purchases land in Crozierville, that individual must be thoroughly investigated.
Touching on the present-day literary rate of Barbados and Crozierville, Goodridge lamented that the last time he checked, Barbados had a literacy rate of 98 percent.
He hopes that the literary rate in Crozierville can be risen to at least to sixty percent. “Let’s make sure our churches raise support to educate our young people. If we have over 150 children in our churches, let make sure they all have the educational opportunities to move their dreams.” According to him, in 1993, he started his scholarship program in Gbarnga, Bong County. He has helped many Liberians. He further stated that he presently has two scholarships in Crozierville. “I am hoping that if people can follow such an example, it will help many young people.”
While these Barbadian descendants were commemorating their Founders Day in Liberia on Friday, a little over 300 of their compatriots, were in the West Indies where they joined the Prime Minister of Barbados, Ms. Mia Amor Mottley to unveil a plaque dedicated to the memory of the first recorded post-emancipation mass-emigration of Barbadians to Africa. Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Ambassador Lorenzo Llewellyn Witherspoon were also present. Ambassador Witherspoon is a descendant of John Prince Porte.
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