Out of Virginia

Black Americans’ Search for Freedom in Nineteenth-Century Liberia

The remarkable journey of a group of Black emigrants from the American South to Liberia after emancipation

In October 1865, six months after the Civil War ended, more than one hundred of the Black residents of Lynchburg, Virginia, left their homes to cross the ocean and begin their lives anew. Their destination was Liberia. They risked everything for the chance to live as full citizens, educate their children, own land, and make a good livingall of which they felt they stood a better chance to do outside the United States, despite their newfound freedom. Why did they leave so soon after the dream of emancipation had finally been realized? And what happened when they ultimately disembarked in West Africa? Out of Virginia tells their story.

In this deeply researched and powerfully written book, Joe Stinnett explores the complex motivations and circum