Kentucky in Africa

Kentucky in Africa was a colony in present-day Montserrado County, Liberia, founded in 1828 and settled by American free people of color, many of them former slaves. A Kentucky state affiliate of the American Colonization Society, members raised money to transport black people from Kentucky — freeborn volunteers as well as slaves set free on the stipulation that they leave the United States — to Africa.[1] The Kentucky society bought a 40-square-mile (100 km²) site along the Saint Paul River (quite near the site of the present-day capital city of Monrovia) and named it Kentucky in Africa.[1] Clay-Ashland was the colony's main town.[1]

Kentucky in Africa
1828–c. 1847
Status	Colony (American Colonization Society)
Capital	Clay-Ashland
Government	Colonial
Historical era	Imperialism
• Established	1828
• Disestablished	c. 1847
Area
• Total	100 km2 (39 sq mi)
Preceded by American Colonization Society
Today part of	Liberia

Notable residents of Kentucky in Africa include William D. Coleman, the 13th President of Liberia, whose family settled in Clay-Ashland after immigrating from Fayette County, Kentucky, when he was a boy.[2] Alfred Francis Russell, the 10th President of Liberia, also resided in Clay-Ashland.[3]

Kentucky in Africa was annexed by Liberia in about 1847.