Overview

More Auspicious Shores chronicles the migration of Afro-Barbadians to Liberia. In 1865, 346 Afro-Barbadians fled a failed post-emancipation Caribbean for the independent black republic of Liberia. They saw Liberia as a means of achieving their post-emancipation goals and promoting a pan-Africanist agenda while simultaneously fulfilling their 'civilizing' and 'Christianizing' duties. Through a close examination of the Afro-Barbadians, Caree A. Banton provides a transatlantic approach to understanding the political and sociocultural consequences of their migration and settlement in Africa. Banton reveals how, as former British subjects, Afro-Barbadians navigated an inherent tension between ideas of pan-Africanism and colonial superiority. Upon their arrival in Liberia, an English imperial identity distinguished the Barbadians from African Americans and secured them privileges in the Republic's hierarchy above the other group. By fracturing assumptions of a homogeneous black identity, Banton ultimately demonstrates how Afro-Barbadian settlement in Liberia influenced ideas of blackness in the Atlantic World.

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9781108453028

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Reviews

'Caree A. Banton's book fills a significant gap in the story of Liberia's creation and its place in the larger Afro-Atlantic world. She skillfully renders the complex identities that Barbadians crafted at home and in Africa, while being mindful of their often conflicted notions of race, civilization, and empire.' Claude A. Clegg, III, Lyle V. Jones Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 'This book is a sustained, often stimulating, commentary on blackness and notions of social class that traverses two widely differing terrains, from post-slavery in Barbados to the political and social construction of the Liberian state. While one may not fully share the author's assertions about the 'failure' of emancipation in Barbados or about the class position that the migrant Barbadians had occupied in Barbadian society, or even about the content of the ideological baggage that they took to Liberia, one cannot help but be impressed by the verve and scholarly flourish with which the author states her case.' Woodville Marshall, University of the West Indies, Barbados 'In this highly original, well-researched monograph, Banton emphasizes the singular place of Barbadian migrants in Liberia's history.' R. M. Delson, Choice '…the book is an important contribution to emancipation-era history in the Caribbean and Africa, and successfully presents the story of these Barbadian migrants as a vital chapter in the long formation of the Afro-Atlantic world.' Melanie J. Newton, New West Indian Guide

'Caree A. Banton's book fills a significant gap in the story of Liberia's creation and its place in the larger Afro-Atlantic world. She skillfully renders the complex identities that Barbadians crafted at home and in Africa, while being mindful of their often conflicted notions of race, civilization, and empire.' Claude A. Clegg, III, Lyle V. Jones Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 'This book is a sustained, often stimulating, commentary on blackness and notions of social class that traverses two widely differing terrains, from post-slavery in Barbados to the political and social construction of the Liberian state. While one may not fully share the author's assertions about the 'failure' of emancipation in Barbados or about the class position that the migrant Barbadians had occupied in Barbadian society, or even about the content of the ideological baggage that they took to Liberia, one cannot help but be impressed by the verve and scholarly flourish with which the author states her case.' Woodville Marshall, University of the West Indies, Barbados 'In this highly original, well-researched monograph, Banton emphasizes the singular place of Barbadian migrants in Liberia's history.' R. M. Delson, Choice

'Caree A. Banton's book fills a significant gap in the story of Liberia's creation and its place in the larger Afro-Atlantic world. She skillfully renders the complex identities that Barbadians crafted at home and in Africa, while being mindful of their often conflicted notions of race, civilization, and empire.' Claude A. Clegg, III, Lyle V. Jones Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 'This book is a sustained, often stimulating, commentary on blackness and notions of social class that traverses two widely differing terrains, from post-slavery in Barbados to the political and social construction of the Liberian state. While one may not fully share the author's assertions about the 'failure' of emancipation in Barbados or about the class position that the migrant Barbadians had occupied in Barbadian society, or even about the content of the ideological baggage that they took to Liberia, one cannot help but be impressed by the verve and scholarly flourish with which the author states her case.' Woodville Marshall, University of the West Indies, Barbados 'In this highly original, well-researched monograph, Banton emphasizes the singular place of Barbadian migrants in Liberia's history.' R. M. Delson, Choice

Author Information

Caree A. Banton is Assistant Professor of Afro-Caribbean History at the University of Arkansas.

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