Spatial Shifts and Generational Advancement in Post-emancipation: Barbadian Families, Migration, and Political Transitions in Liberia

In 1865, Anthony Barclay, his family of thirteen, and a group of fifty Barbadian families emigrated to the West African republic of Liberia. Attention to generational differences had spurred their embrace of these kinds of migratory initiatives that would address issues Barbados had not and empower different generations within the family to adequately meet the challenges of post-emancipation. Embedded within their pursuits were dreams of a better life for their children. By 1903, Arthur Barclay would become the first non-American-descended president of Liberia. Anthony and his son, Arthur Barclay, represented the shifts in experiences of Caribbean post-emancipation driven by spatial turns and generational shifts.

Using a framework that explores family experiences through migration and generational transitions allows us to look backward and forward across space, time, and generations to see how the Atlantic tides turned to affect different generations' fate in Liberia.  Because no West Indian migrant had ever occupied the office of the president in Liberia, Barclay's election prompted curiosity and skepticism about the newly emerging group of West Indian leaders. With uncertainty animating the larger Liberian discussion about the rise of a leader who was not of African American heritage in a country formed by and created for black Americans, many wanted to know: "Who is this man and from whence comes he to rule?" Questions surrounding the identity and loyalty of Barclay and other British West Indians in Liberia became more pronounced as British intrusion on Liberian territory increased during the Scramble for Africa. By juxtaposing the lives of the different generation of Barbadian emigrants and in contextualizing the younger Barclay’s West Indian background into his rhetoric and policies, this paper explores Barbadian transatlantic and generational post-emancipation experience in the context of political leadership in Liberia.