African American Colonization Movement Print Culture: The African Repository and Colonial Journal Vol. VI and American Colonization Society Program, 1831

The African Repository

Periodical

[African American] [Slavery and Abolition] Gurley, Ralph Randolph. The African Repository and Colonial Journal (Vol. VI, 1831) documents the official print organ of the American Colonization Society and provides direct evidence of organized efforts to relocate free Black Americans to Liberia during the antebellum period. Edited by Gurley, a central administrative figure in the Society, the journal records institutional advocacy for colonization, including arguments promoting emigration, reports on the development of Liberia, and correspondence intended to demonstrate the viability and growth of the colony. Produced within the broader context of early nineteenth century debates over slavery, emancipation, and racial coexistence in the United States, the volume supports research into competing ideological frameworks surrounding Black citizenship, including colonizationist efforts that positioned removal to Africa as a national solution.

Gurley, Ralph Randolph (ed.). The African Repository and Colonial Journal. Washington, D.C.: James C. Dunn, 1831. Vol. VI. The volume includes the Fourteenth Annual Report of the American Colonization Society (Vol. V, No. 12) and contains printed material detailing Society operations, donor contributions, emigrant accounts, and official dispatches from Liberia. A folding map titled “Map of the West Coast of Africa, from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas, including the Colony of Liberia: Compiled chiefly from the Surveys and Observations of the late Revd. J. Ashmun” provides geographic visualization of the colonization project and its territorial scope. Textual contents include letters of support, promotional narratives of colonial success, and logistical information concerning emigration, reflecting the Society’s effort to construct a sustained informational and ideological campaign through print.

The publication forms part of a larger network of colonization literature that shaped public discourse on race, migration, and nationhood in the early republic, particularly in the decades preceding intensified abolitionist activism. By circulating reports of prosperity and order in Liberia, the journal sought to influence policy, attract funding, and legitimize the removal of free Black populations from the United States. At the same time, the volume provides critical primary documentation for examining the tensions between colonization and abolition, as well as African American resistance to forced or coerced migration. Moderate wear to boards with rubbing at extremities, interior generally clean with expected age toning; map intact. Overall good condition. A substantive primary source for the study of colonization ideology, Liberia’s early development, and antebellum racial policy debates.

Item #21521

Price: $885.00