https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Liberia
Liberia is a country in West Africa which was founded, established, colonized, and controlled by citizens of the United States and ex-Caribbean slaves as a colony for former African American slaves and their free black descendants. It is one of only two sovereign countries in the world that were started by citizens and ex-Caribbean slaves of a political power as a colony for former slaves of the same political power, the other being Sierra Leone, established by Great Britain. In 1847, Liberia proclaimed its independence from the American Colonization Society (ACS).
Liberia was under control and as protectorate of United States. It retained its independence throughout the Scramble for Africa by European colonial powers during the late 19th century, and the country remained in the American sphere of influence. Until 1980, Liberia was dominated by the small minority of descendants of the free black colonists, known collectively as Americo-Liberians. Little economic development occurred. From the 1920s, the country became dependent on exploitation of natural resources, particularly the rubber industry and the Firestone Company.
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Americo-Liberian and indigenous segregation, 1847-1940
The social order in Liberia was dominated by a group of Americo-Liberians. Although descended from peoples of African origin, the ancestors of Americo-Liberians had been born in the United States for generations before emigrating to Africa; they held American cultural, religious and social values, shaped by their own heritage. Like many Americans and Europeans of the period, the Americo-Liberian held beliefs in the religious superiority of Protestant Christianity and the cultural power of European civilization over indigenous animism and culture.
The Americo-Liberians created communities and social infrastructure closely based on what they knew - American society. They spoke English, and built churches and houses in styles resembling those they were familiar with in the southern United States. Although they never constituted more than five percent of the population of Liberia, they controlled key resources that allowed them to dominate the local native peoples: access to the ocean, modern technical skills, literacy and higher levels of education, and valuable relationships with many United States institutions, including the American government.[13]
Reflecting the system of racial segregation in the United States, the Americo-Liberians created a cultural and racial caste system with themselves at the top and indigenous Liberians at the bottom.[14][15][16][self-published source] They believed in a form of "racial equality" which meant that all residents of Liberia had the potential to become "civilized" through western-style education and conversion to Christianity.