• I was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1809
  • My mother had been a slave, but she was freed as a young age, and I grew up a free man.
  • I immigrated to Liberia in 1829, part of the movement to establish a country on the African continent for former African American slaves and their free black descendants.
  • I opened a store in Monrovia, and later engaged in politics, rising in prominence to become the first Black American President (1848-1856) when Liberia became independent on July 27, 1847.
  • After office I served as a general in the Liberian army, before serving as the country’s President (1872-1876) for a second term.

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