Clay-Ashland

Clay-Ashland
—  Township  —
Clay-Ashland Location in Liberia
Coordinates: 6°25′21″N 10°43′29″W / 6.4225°N 10.72472°W / 6.4225; -10.72472Coordinates: 6°25′21″N 10°43′29″W / 6.4225°N 10.72472°W / 6.4225; -10.72472
Country	Liberia
County	Montserrado County
District	St. Paul River
Established	1846
Time zone	GMT (UTC+0)

Clay-Ashland is a township^[1] located 10 miles (16 km) from the capital city of Monrovia in Liberia.^[2] The town is in the St. Paul River District of Montserrado County.^[3] It is named after Henry Clay — a slaveowner and American Colonization Society co-founder who favored emancipation in theory but advocated a gradual approach to ending slavery — and his estate Ashland in Lexington, Kentucky.^[4]

Established in 1846, Clay-Ashland was part of a colony called Kentucky In Africa,^[4] because it was settled by African-American immigrants primarily from the U.S. state of Kentucky under the auspices of the American Colonization Society.

History

A Kentucky state affiliate of the ACS was formed in 1828, and members raised money to transport Kentucky blacks — freeborn volunteers as well as slaves set free on the stipulation that they leave the United States — to Africa.^[4] The Kentucky society bought a 40-square-mile (100 km²) site along the Saint Paul River and named it Kentucky in Africa.^[4] Clay-Ashland was the colony's main town.^[4]

Notable residents have included William D. Coleman, the 13th President of Liberia, whose family settled in Clay-Ashland after immigrating from Fayette County, Kentucky, United States when he was a boy.^[5] Moses Ricks, a successful farmer and Baptist missionary who founded the still-running Ricks Institute in 1887 to provide a Christian education to indigenous youth in Liberia, also grew up in the town.^[6] Alfred F. Russell, the 9th President of Liberia, also resided in Clay-Ashland.^[7]

The True Whig Party, which dominated Liberian politics for more than a century, was founded in Clay-Ashland in 1869.^[8][9]

References

1. ^ Clay-Ashland Residents Dance for School", Daily Observer (Liberia), 11 December, 2007
2. ^ Kenneth B. Noble, "Leader Of Liberia Refusing To Quit", New York Times, June 7, 1990
3. ^ "Liberia: Montserrado County". Handbook of Place Codes. Humanitarian Information Centre. 31 December 2005. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/liberia/infocentre/pcodes/doc/Montserrado_PCODE_Handbook_2005.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-09. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} KET, Program 1106, "Kentucky And Liberia"
5. ^ Liberia Past And Present, "President William David Coleman 1896 – 1900"
6. ^ Power and Press Freedom in Liberia, 1830-1970
7. ^ Bluegrass Community & Technical College, "A Letter from Liberia: Reverend Alfred F. Russell to Robert Wickliffe in Lexington, Kentucky", July 3, 1855
8. ^ Kevin Shillington, Encyclopedia of AFrican History, 2005
9. ^ Donald A. Ranard, "Liberians: An Introduction to their History and Culture", Center for Applied Linguistics, April 2005