African American Settlements in West Africa: John Brown Russwurm & the American Civilizing Efforts

By Amos Beyan, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at Western Michigan University

John Brown Russwurm [Bowdoin Class of 1826] and African American Settlement in West Africa examines Russwurm's intellectual accomplishments and significant contributions to the black civil rights movement in America from 1826 - 1829, and more significantly explores the essential characteristics that distinguished his thoughts and endeavors from other black leaders in America, Liberia and Maryland in Liberia. Not surprisingly, the most controversial of Russwurm's ideas was his unwavering support of the American Colonization Society (ACS) and the Maryland State Colonization Society (MSCS), two organizations that most civil rights activists found racist and pro-slavery. Beyan probes the social and intellectual sources, underlying motives and the legacies of Russwurm's thoughts and endeavors, all in an attempt to dissect why Russwurm acted and made the choices that he did.

-From the publisher.