Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 June 2002 — Page 9

The Muncie Times, June 6, 2002, page 9

Liberia survives despite violence

I expect that every African American in today’s world would instantly recognize the name of Harriet Tubman and have a pretty good idea of who she was and the part she played in our history. I wonder how many would recoghize the name of William V.S. Tubman. William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman, a descendant of the black Americans who founded the country, was the longest serving president of the African country of Liberia, a country that shares a unique heritage and relationship with the United States. Indeed, the first President of Liberia, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, was a black freeman born in Norfolk, VA. Tubman served continuously as head of

state from 1944 until his death in 1971. He encouraged the modernization of Liberia, welcoming foreign capital investment and business. He gave the vote to women, encouraged tribal participation in government and built up public schools and the army. He also encouraged maintenance of tribal laws “insofar as they were humane and reasonable,” and at the same time encouraged “westernized blacks” from America and former British colonies to immigrate to Liberia. Tubman was

succeeded by William R. Tolbert, who served until his assassination in a 1980 coup headed by Samuel Kenyon Doe, an army Master Sergeant who became the first head of

state descended from Liberia’s original inhabitants. In 1989, Liberia was engulfed in a civil war. Forces led by Charles Taylor, a former associate of Doe, launched an invasion from Ivory Coast. Doe’s response to the rebel insurgency was extremely brutal. The Doe government was overthrown and Doe was killed in 1990. Factional fighting has flared up and cooled down several times since then, though Charles Taylor continues in power. During the period of anarchy, more than 150,000 liberians (in a country of 2 1/2 million) were killed in tribal rivalries exacerbated by the continuing strife. More than one and a half million were driven from their homes. It was on the eve of the

1989 Liberian civil war that BSU doctoral candidate H. Momo Fahnbulleh returned home to Monrovia, eager to use his newly earned credentials to aid in rebuilding his country’s broken down educational system. He found the going rough, with up to forty percent of the students active warriors in the ongoing civil war and the schools lacking such basics as chalk, books and other supplies. One particularly bad day he found himself personally caught up in the conflict, as he was held hostage by one faction while the other faction defended him. After about four uncertain hours of captivity he was released when both sides decided that he should be spared so that he could continue to help the kids. cont... on page 12