My dissertation project, titled “Becoming Americo-Liberian: African American Women, Culture, and the Creation of Liberia, 1840-1912,” illuminates the variety of roles that American Women (both Black and White) played in the creation of Liberia and its culture. The creation of Liberia depended heavily on both physical and cultural imports from America. These imports were complicated in many ways.

The question that is the core of this project is: what does it take to make a place “home?” This task of “home-making” often falls to women. This often invisible work is often overlooked because “home” is a familiar idea to most of us. By framing nation-building through the language of home-making I believe the presence of women will be further highlighted.

In the case of Liberia, a new “home” was being defined at a time when Christian missions were expanding globally, the United States was expanding on the continent, and thousands of Black Americans were questioning if the United States could ever truly be “home.”