Clay-Ashland

Clay-Ashland is a township located 10 miles (16 km) from the capital city of Monrovia in Liberia.[1] The town is in the St. Paul River District of Montserrado County.[2] It is named after Henry Clay — a slaveowner and American Colonization Society co-founder who favored gradual emancipation — and his estate Ashland in Lexington, Kentucky.[3]

Clay-Ashland
Township
Clay-Ashland is located in Liberia
Clay-Ashland
Clay-Ashland
Location in Liberia
Coordinates: 6°25′21″N 10°43′29″W
Country Liberia
CountyMontserrado County
DistrictSt. Paul River
Established1846
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)

Established in 1846, Clay-Ashland was part of a colony called Kentucky In Africa,[3] because it was settled by African-American immigrants primarily from the U.S. state of Kentucky under the auspices of the American Colonization Society.

History

A Kentucky state affiliate of the ACS was formed in 1828, and members raised money to transport Kentucky blacks — freeborn volunteers as well as slaves set free on the stipulation that they leave the United States — to Africa.[3] The Kentucky society bought a 40-square-mile (100 km2) site along the Saint Paul River and named it Kentucky in Africa.[3] Clay-Ashland was the colony's main town.[3]

Notable residents have included William D. Coleman, the 13th President of Liberia, whose family settled in Clay-Ashland after immigrating from Fayette County, Kentucky, United States when he was a boy.[4] Moses Ricks, a successful farmer and Baptist missionary who founded the still-running Ricks Institute in 1887 to provide a Christian education to indigenous youth in Liberia, also grew up in the town.[5] Alfred Francis Russell, the 10th President of Liberia, also resided in Clay-Ashland.[6] Martha Ann Erskine Ricks lived here after her father bought her out of slavery. In 1892 she received a Royal audience with Queen Victoria.

The True Whig Party, which dominated Liberian politics for more than a century, was founded in Clay-Ashland in 1869.[7][8]

References
  1. Kenneth B. Noble, "Leader Of Liberia Refusing To Quit", New York Times, June 7, 1990
  2. "Liberia: Montserrado County" (PDF). Handbook of Place Codes. Humanitarian Information Centre. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
  3. "Kentucky in Africa" (special edition of Kentucky Life), Kentucky Educational Television (Aug. 15, 2005).
  4. Liberia Past And Present, "President William David Coleman 1896 – 1900"
  5. Power and Press Freedom in Liberia, 1830-1970
  6. Bluegrass Community & Technical College, "A Letter from Liberia: Reverend Alfred F. Russell to Robert Wickliffe in Lexington, Kentucky", July 3, 1855
  7. Kevin Shillington, Encyclopedia of African History, 2005
  8. Donald A. Ranard, "Liberians: An Introduction to their History and Culture", Center for Applied Linguistics, April 2005 Archived June 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
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