Quick facts on Liberia:
| 1441 | AD Africa’s first slave and gold exported to Portugal |
| 1511 | First African slaves exported to America |
| 1807 | Slave Trade abolished by the British |
| 1812 | Liberia’s first 16 Presidents were born in the US |
| 1816 | The American Colonization Society (A.C.S.) is established |
| 1819 | US Congress declares an end to the slave trade; gives $100k to ACS |
| 1820 | British establishes Sierra Leone as a British Colony |
| 1821 | Lott Carey [First African Missionary], US free slaves arrive and establish Providence Baptist Church |
| 1822 | ACS establishes Liberia as a colony for America’s; Capital City Monrovia [25th April 1822] name after US President James Monroe; Liberia is similar to the US with 3 branches of government, flag, currency |
| 1834 – 1857 | 18th February 1834 The Republic of Maryland in Africa; annexed to Liberia on 6th April 1857 |
| 1839 | Liberia becomes a colony; a safe haven for people of negro descendant; constitution written in Washington DC |
| 1847 | Liberia becomes the first and only African nation founded by US freed-slaves a sovereign republic, recognized by Britain and other European nation |
| 1847 | 26th July: Africa’s first and only African nation whose declaration of independence was signed in the historic Providence Baptist Church, Liberia, West Africa |
| 1862 | Liberia College established, now called the University of Liberia |
| 1863 | President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1) freeing slaves in the Confederate States |
| 1866 | The Federal Civil Rights Legislation passed (April 19): An “Act to Protect all Persons in the U.S. in Their Civil Rights.” This act conferred citizenship upon blacks |
| 1880 | Liberia Baptist Missionary & Educational Convention established |
| 1916 | World War I begins, ends 1919 |
| 1919 | Liberia is a founding member in the establishing of the League of Nations |
| 1920 | 10th January, Signator to the League of Nations, Founder Woodrow Wilson |
| 1926 | Firestone Natural Rubber Plantation Company established in Liberia, Bridgestone Americas Inc., 99-year lease for a million acres |
| 1942 | Liberia in support of its US ally declared war on Germany and Japan, expelled all German residents [most of the doctors in Liberia at the time were Germans], and opposed the Axis Powers [“Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis”] |
| 1942 | “Liberia signed a Defense Pact with the United States … in checking the expansion of the Axis powers. Robertsfield airport was originally built as an US Air Force base … for many years the longest runway in Africa.[6] .” |
| 1943 – 1985 | “The
story of Robertsfield is consistently intertwined with the history of Pan
American World Airways. From the end of World War II until 1985, the airport
was administered and operated by Pan American.” Roberts Airport is an alternative landing site for NASA’s Space Shuttle Emergency Landing Sites.” |
| 1945 | Liberia a founding member of the United Nations |
| 1946, 20th April | Original Signature to the United Nations |
| 1948 | Liberia breaks tie vote in favor of the State of Israel to become a member of the UN |
| 1951 | US Liberia Mining Company (L.M.C.) ships first iron ore from Liberia |
| 1952 | Liberia Mining Company, Bomi Hills, the richest iron ore mine in the world, shipped to Baltimore and then the Republic Steel’s Cleveland |
| 1955 | Liberian-American-Swedish Mining Company (LAMCO) iron ore mining company in the Nimba Range |
| 1955 | US BF Goodrich operates in Liberia |
| 1959 | The Sanniquellie Conference of independent West African states (Ghana, Guinea and Liberia), the nucleus of the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U.) |
| 1961 | Championed and hosted founding meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Sanniquellie, Nimba County, Liberia; [OAU 25th May 1963, now named African Union 9th July 2002]. 30 plus African nations were liberated and received independence from colonial powers, including the crumbling of Apartheid in South Africa |
| 1963 | First Black President of the Baptist World Alliance, Dr. William R. Tolbert, Jr. (also former President of Liberia) |
| 1963 | OAU is founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| 1965 | Liberia’s William R. Tolbert, Jr. becomes President of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) in Florida |
| 1965 | US-British Bong Mines begins operations in Liberia |
| 1968 | 4th April Martin Luther King Jr US Baptist Minister and activist Civil Rights assassinated |
| 1969 | US astronauts, Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. walk on the Moon |
| 1969 | First and only African Woman President of the United Nations General Assembly, 24th Session), Angie Brooks-Randolph (24 Aug. 1928 – 9 Sept 2007) |
| 1971 – 2011 | 1971- 2011 OMEGA first global range radio navigation system, one of six partner nations |
| 1972 | Liberia establishes diplomatic relations with USSR, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany during President William R. Tolbert, Jr. presidency |
| 1976 | Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) founded |
| 1979 | Rice Riots at Easter. OAU Summit held in Liberia, Tolbert elected Chair |
| 1980 | Tolbert assassinated in April coup d’etat by Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe April; 13 officials of the Tolbert’s Government executed by firing squad |
| 1985 | Thomas Quiwonkpa’s invasion following Doe’s election |
| 1989 | Liberian Civil War begins on 24th Dec. |
| 1996 | War breaks out in the capital, Monrovia |
| 1979 – 2005 | 30 yr. civil crisis (14-yr civil war, 1990-2004, 250K deaths) |
| 2003 | Ongoing fighting near the capital, Monrovia and around the country |
| 2003, 18th June | 2003 18th June, 0001hrs. Ceasefire Agreement; President Charles Taylor resigns under international pressure for war crimes, goes into exile in Nigeria. President Moses Blah will serve until October 14, 2003 Transitional Government led by Chair Gyude Bryant and Co-Chair Wesley Johnson. The armed conflict between the present Government of Liberia (GOL), the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) is hereby ended with immediate effect… results in the observation of a total and permanent cessation of hostilities forthwith. [Accra Peace Agreement] |
| 2006 | President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf elected first female President of Liberia |
| 2011 | Noble Peace Prize Recipients: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf(Liberia), Peace Activist Leymah Gbowee (Liberia) and Human Rights Activist Tawakkul Karman (Yemeni) |
| 2012 | Charles Taylor former President of Liberia is sentenced to 50yrs in prison for his role in the atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during their civil war |
| 2007, 16th Jan – 22nd Jan 2018 | 2007 16th Jan – 22nd Jan 2018 first female Liberian and African President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf |
| 2014 | Ebola
Virus outbreak March-December 2014 (Sierra Leone, Guinea and then Liberia),
1800 plus deaths in Liberia; (70+ health workers including 5 Medical
Doctors); 16 Ethnic Groups of Negro origin, 4.3m population (1.5m took refuge in Monrovia, 14 mile radius peninsula capital city); 80% illiteracy rate; 85% unemployment rate and climbing; Av. Family Size 8; Dependency ratio 100%; Av. Income US$100 per mo. (US$1=L$160); 80% of the people live in abject poverty; Liberia ranks 175 in 187 countries in human development; Impoverish and ignorant dwellers of one of Liberia’s slum areas, West Point estimates with some 50,000 low income dwellers is a prime example of the abject poverty, poor schools, broken health system and human suffering |
| 2018, 22nd Jan | George Manneh Weah, legend soccer player becomes President of the Republic of Liberia |
| 2019 | Protests by civil groups on L$16n +US$25m from government vaults and US Reserve 2017-2018; both Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Administration and George Weah Administration are indicted by Kroll’ Forensic Audit Report, sponsored by the USAid and released to the public as per earlier agreement. |