Mississippi in Africa

Author / Creator

Huffman, Alan

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Online

Physical

Summary

"When wealthy Mississippi cotton plantar Isaac Ross died in 1836, his will stipulated that his Prospect Hill plantation should be liquidated and the proceeds used to provide passage for his two hun...

"When wealthy Mississippi cotton plantar Isaac Ross died in 1836, his will stipulated that his Prospect Hill plantation should be liquidated and the proceeds used to provide passage for his two hundred slaves to the newly created abolitionist colony of Liberia in western Africa. His heirs immediately contested the will, beginning a battle in the state courts and legislature that would continue for a decade. The legal wranglings would prompt a band of frustrated slaves to initiate a deadly revolt that burned the Ross mansion to the ground and claimed the life of a young white girl before the leaders of the plot were caught and lynched." "But the will would ultimately be upheld, and the slaves would emigrate to their new home in Liberia. There they would battle the local tribes while establishing vast plantations with Greek Revival-style mansions in a region the Americo-Liberians renamed "Mississippi in Africa." The ongoing cultural conflict between native Africans and settlers would continue over the following century, erupting into the civil war that rages in Liberia to this day. In 2001,journalist Alan Huffman traveled there, amidst the violence and tumult, in search of the descendants of Prospect Hill. There he found that the aftermath of Ross's fateful will was far from over."--BOOK JACKET.

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