"Joseph Jenkins Roberts"(March 15,1809-February 24,1876)

Was the first (1848-1856) and seventh (1872-1856) President of Liberia.Born free in Norfolk, Virginia,Joseph Emigrated to Liberia in 1829.He opened a trading store in Monrovia,and later engaged in politics.When Liberia became independent in 1847.Joseph was elected the first president,serving until 1856.In 1872 he was elected to served Liberia's seventh president.He was born free in Norfolk,Virginia,the second oldest o seven children.His daddy was said to be a planter of Welsh orgin.Joseph's mama Amelia,described as a mulatto who was quite fair,was the planter's slave mistress or concubine.He freed Amelia and her children when she was still young.Amelia gave all her children but one the middle name Jenkins,which suggest that may been the name of their biological daddy.Once free Amelia,married James Roberts,a free African American.He gave her children his surname and raised them as her own.James owned a boating business on the James River By the time of his death,he had acquired substantial wealth for an African America of those times.Joseph and his siblings by the planter were estimated to be seven-eights European in ancestry.As the Liberian historian Abayomi Karmga noted in 1926,"He was not really black;he was an octoroon and could easily passed for a white man.As a boy,Joseph began to work in his stepfather's business,handling goods on a flatboat that transported materials from Petersburg to Norfolk on the James Rivers. The family moved to Petersburg,which was an industrial city.Shortly after the move,James died.Joseph continued to work in his family's business,but also served as an apprentice in a barber shop.The owner of the barber shop,William Colson,was also a minister and one of Virginia's best educated African American residents.He gave Joseph access to his private library,which provided much of Joseph early education.In 1828 he married an 18-year-old woman named Sarah.They had a baby whom they took to with them when they emigrated to to Liberia,under the auspices of the American Colonization Society.Both Sarah and the child died the first year in the colony.Some time after Sarah death,Joseph married again,Jane Rose Waring.Jane was a daughter of colston Waring & Harriet Graves Virginians who had also migrated to the colony.After hearing of the plans of the American Colonization Society to colonize the African coast at Cape Mesurado near modern-day Monrovia,Joseph decided to join an expedition.The restriction in Virginia on free Negroes played an important part in his decision.The Roberts family was strongly religious and they felt called to evangelize the indigenous people of Africa.On February 9,1829 they sailed for Africa on the Harriet.Along with his mama and five of six siblings.Traveling the same ship was James Spriggs Payne,who would later become Liberia's Fourth president.Once in Monrovia,Joseph and two of his brothers established a business with the help of their friend William Colson of Petersbug.The company exported palm products,camwood,and ivory to the United States,and traded imported American goods at the company store in Monrovia.In 1835,William emigrated to Liberia,died after his arrival.Expanding into coastal trade,the Roberts family entered the ministry of the Liberia Methodist Church,founded by Americans.Later he became a bishop.After starting as a trader,the youngest son,Henry Roberts,studied medicine at the Berkshire Medical College Massachusetts.Joseph was successful enough to pay for Henry studies.Henry returned to Liberia to work as a Physician.In 1833,Joseph became high sheriff of the colony.One of his responsibilities was to organize militias to travel to the interior to collect taxes from the indigenous people and put down their rebellions against colonial rule.In 1839,the American Colonization Society appointed Joseph vice governor.Two years later,after the death of governor Thomas Buchanan,was appointed as the first black governor of Liberia.In 1846,he asked the legislature to declare the independence of Liberia,but also to maintain cooperation with the American Colonization Society.The legislature called for a referendum,in which voters chose independence.On July 26,1847,Joseph declared Liberia independent.He won the first presidential election On October 5,1847,and was sworn into office on January 3,1848,with Stephen Allen Benson as vice president.Joseph was re-elected three more times to serve a a total of eight years;until he lost the election in 1855 to the vice president Stephen.Attempts to found a state based upon some 3000 settlers proved difficult.Some coastal tribes converted to Christianity and learned English,but most of the indigenous African retained their traditional religious and language.The slave trade continued illicitly from Liberia ports,the British Navy finally closed it down in the 1850s.Joseph spent the first year of presidency attempting to attain recognition from European countries and the United States.In 1848 he traveled to Europe to meet Queen Victoria and other heads of state.Great Britain was the only country to recognize Liberia,followed by France in 1848 or 1852 (accounts differ).In 1849,the German cities of Hamburg,Bremen and Lubeck recognized the new nation,as did Portugal,Brazil,the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire.Norway and Sweden did so in either 1849 or 1863,Haiti in either 1849 or 1864,Denmark in either 1849 or 1869 (account differ).The United States with held recognition until 1862,during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.Reportedly,the government feared that the southern congressmen would not accept a black ambassador in Washington D.C.Maryland Colony declared in 1854 its independence from the Maryland State Colonization Society but did not become part of the Republic of Liberia.It held the land along the coast between Grand Cess and San Pedro Rivers.In 1856,the Independent State of Maryland (Africa) requested military aid from Liberia in a war with the Grebo and Kru peoples.They were resisting the Maryland colonist's efforts to control their trade.Joseph assisted the Marylanders,and a joint military campaign by the groups of African-American colonists resulted in victory.In 1857,the Republic of Maryland joined Liberia as Maryland County.Durning his presidency,Joseph expanded the boarders of Liberia along the coast and made attempts to integrate the indigenous people of Monrovia into the republic.By 1860,through treaties and purchases with local African leaders,Liberia extended its boundaries to include a 600-mile coastline.The settlers built schools and Liberia College (which later became the University of Liberia ),During these early years,agriculture,shipbuilding,and trade flourished.He has been described as a talented leader with diplomatic skills.His leadership was instrumental in giving Liberia independence and sovereignty.Later in his career,Joseph diplomatic skills helped him to deal effectively with the indigenous people and to maneuver in the complex field of international law and relations.After his first presidency,Joseph served for fifteen as a major general in the Liberian army,as well as a diplomatic representative in France and Great Britain.In 1862,he helped to found and became the first president of Liberia College in Monrovia,where he served as president until 1876.Joseph frequently traveled to the United States to raise funds for the college.Until his death he held a professorship in jurisprudence and international law.In 1871,president Edward James Royce was deposed by elements loyal to the Republican Party on the grounds that he was planning to cancel the upcoming elections.Joseph one of the Republican Party's Leaders won the ensuing presidential election and returned to office in 1872.Joseph served two terms until 1876.While he was incapacitated by illness from 1875 until early 1876,Vice-President Anthony W.Gardiner was acting president.In the decades after 1868 escalating economic difficulties weekended the state's dominance over the coastal indigenous population.Conditions worsened-the cost of imports was far greater than the income generated by exports of coffee,rice,palm oil,sugarcane,and timber.Liberia tried to modernize its largely agricultural economy.Joseph died less than two months after his second term had ended.In his testament,he left $10,000 and his estate to the educational system of Liberia.