Date of Award
Spring 5-15-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Tarquin Schwartz
Second Advisor
Kyle Thompson
Third Advisor
Darren Botello-Samson
Keywords
Africa, Liberia, African American, Atlantic World, Pan-African, Emigration
Abstract
Pan-Africanist thought is widely associated with the twentieth century writings of Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. Du Bois, but the depth of its roots has been underappreciated. Although the broad consensus among nineteenth-century African Americans was that they should fight to be recognized as rightful members of U.S. society, some advocated an exodus to Africa in the years before the U.S. Civil War.
Following the war, governments’ retreat from the promises of equal citizenship in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments led some African Americans to believe that emigration to Liberia was the only way to secure their political rights. In this period, a new generation of black activists, conscious of Pan-Africanism, joined the call for emigration and formed the Liberian Exodus Joint Stock Steamship Company in 1877. The company’s flagship, the Azor, was described at its March 1878 dedication as “the Black Mayflower.” Many emigrants spoke of the desire to incorporate indigenous Liberians into the body politic as well, and once in Africa, emigrants typically settled inland among the indigenous Liberian population to promote racial kinship.
This movement has been underappreciated in studies of the nineteenth century. The emigrants’ mission was effaced by the legacy of the Dunning School of historiography, which discredited African American achievement in the Reconstruction Era and two decades that followed. This had the effect of denying the deep roots of Du Bois’ and Garvey’s activism, while reducing awareness of nineteenth-century black Americans’ Atlantic World consciousness and sense of political agency.
Recommended Citation
Simon, Andrew, "PAN-AFRICANISM’S MAYFLOWER: THE AZOR’S 1878 VOYAGE TO LIBERIA" (2026). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 844.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/etd/844
