THE CHALLENGES OF THE EXPATRIATES: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EX-SLAVE WILLIAM DOUGLASS AND HIS FAMILY IN LIBERIA (1857 - 1866)

Abstract

In 1854, Dr. James Hunter Terrell, owner of Music Hall plantation, in Albemarle County, Virginia, has made a will which expressed his desire that his slaves were freed after his death and were preferably resettled in Liberia. In december, 1856, the Dr. James Hunter Minor, the farmer’s nephew, will executor, sent some former slaves to Liberia on the ship Mary Caroline Stevens. William Douglass was among them, he borned in the Unites States and he was homonym of the known abolitionist leader. As soon as he arrived in Monrovia, on February 8th, 1857, he started to communicate through letters with Dr. James Hunter Minor, reporting his difficulties and achievements in the new home, just as requested news and the shipment of some goods from the United States. It has only been found the letters sent by William Douglass during the period between 1857 and 1866.