1. ERIN KEIZUR AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY (ACS)

2. FORMATION OF ACS 1817: Formed by a group of prominent white male Virginians (Robert Finley) Members were mainly middle-class whites; some abolitionists and slave owners All thought slaves could not be integrated into American society

3. “COLONIZATION” OF AFRICAN AMERICANS Goal: Relocation of slaves out of America back to Africa There, the ACS would help them form a new culture/life The ACS would buy a slave’s freedom then “colonize” them in Africa Funding came from private donations and fundraisers

4. “You may free the slave in the South, but he is nevertheless a slave North or South. His shackles are only to be cast off by returning to the land of his forefathers.”. –newspaper editorial, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1854.

5. POSITIVE EFFECTS About 15,000 African Americans were emigrated from America African Americans established the nation of Liberia In 1847 it was declared an independent state

6. FAILURES Private/public funding wasn’t enough They “colonized” fewer slaves than were born into the U.S. Many African Americans resisted There were 3 or more generations removed from Africa and they had no desire to return to foreign land Abolitionists criticized their motives By 1964- formal dissolution of the ACS