WI: Mass immigration of Africans into the Reconstruction-era South?

[Oba Cahokia]

Let's say a hypothetical scenario where for whatever reason Liberia tries to a military conquest for Sierra Leone during the American Civil War (like 1963) but it wraps up two years after the Civil War ending with British annexing Liberia. With Liberians not wanting to live under the British a mass immigration out of the now colony (almost all Americo-Liberians and some of the people groups) to the Reconstruction South. How would this change Reconstruction? What if other Afro-Caribbeans followed suit taking advantage of Reconstruction?

 

[Analytical Engine]

Pretty sure that a certain group of people in the South would be...not entirely happy with that course of events.

 

[Tsochar]

There would be almost zero change.

Liberia in the mid-19th century consisted of a few Americo-Liberian settlements along the coast which were thoroughly segregated from the indigenous population that filled the remainder of the country. The Americo-Liberians were generally Christian, English-speaking, and sought to recreate the American social and political system with themselves in the highest caste. The natives generally kept to indigenous religions and, to a lesser extent, Islam, and sought to either avoid contact with the first group or expel them entirely. The third group, the Congoes, consisted of recently-freed Congolese from Central Africa who generally identified with the Americo-Liberians.

The natives at this time numbered perhaps 500,000 (exact numbers are difficult to estimate), and in all likelihood they wouldn't even care who claims the territory since the level of actual territorial control is near zero. The Americo-Liberians and Congoes together at this time numbered almost certainly fewer than 10,000, and chartering a ship across the Atlantic in this era to transport even a tiny fraction of them would be an extreme expenditure of time, money, and resources; it's unlikely that more than a few hundred could feasibly even make the journey unless someone very wealthy wanted to bankroll their transportation. The African-American population of the US at this time period is more than 4 million, so I seriously doubt the addition of a few hundred of these would have much effect on anything at all.

 

[Hayatgheibi]

Pretty sure that a certain group of people in the South would be...not entirely happy with that course of events.

Yeah, I was going to say if anything it might result in an earlier Exclusion Act. But even if Liberia is conquered by Britain, their American inhabitants wouldn’t want to go back to an inferior position. The most they would do is move to elsewhere in Africa like the Boers did.

 

[Arkenfolm]

Probably not much, other than it adds a little bit to the pool of educated African Americans. They might go for politics, or work in government administration or try to educate the Freedmen. If they can coax any decent number of indigenous Liberians, then they'll try and set up plantations in the south and use these men and women as sharecroppers. Rich white southerners would appreciate the latter class too, since they'd be easy to exploit while the educated Americo-Liberians considered yet another threat.

Overall the numbers and effect is likely too small to prevent the "redemption" of the South and disenfranchisement of African Americans.

Yeah, I was going to say if anything it might result in an earlier Exclusion Act. But even if Liberia is conquered by Britain, their American inhabitants wouldn’t want to go back to an inferior position. The most they would do is move to elsewhere in Africa like the Boers did.

Why would they be in an inferior position? The ones who survive will legally own plenty of land, are rather wealthy, have experience in administering the region, are educated, and perhaps crucially for the British, are usually mixed-race. They have plenty of reason to want to stay in Liberia.

 

[jacob ningen]

Probably not much, other than it adds a little bit to the pool of educated African Americans. They might go for politics, or work in government administration or try to educate the Freedmen. If they can coax any decent number of indigenous Liberians, then they'll try and set up plantations in the south and use these men and women as sharecroppers. Rich white southerners would appreciate the latter class too, since they'd be easy to exploit while the educated Americo-Liberians considered yet another threat.

Overall the numbers and effect is likely too small to prevent the "redemption" of the South and disenfranchisement of African Americans.

Why would they be in an inferior position? The ones who survive will legally own plenty of land, are rather wealthy, have experience in administering the region, are educated, and perhaps crucially for the British, are usually mixed-race. They have plenty of reason to want to stay in Liberia.

Thats not his point. His point is that they would not return to the American South.

 

[jmc247]

Probably not much, other than it adds a little bit to the pool of educated African Americans.

Why would they be in an inferior position? The ones who survive will legally own plenty of land, are rather wealthy, have experience in administering the region, are educated, and perhaps crucially for the British, are usually mixed-race. They have plenty of reason to want to stay in Liberia.

Their letters back to the states indicate they often were educated and very few letters back that I have seen indicated any interest in returning.

https://x.com/lamb_jabari/status/1718728677364551824?s=46

One of the comparisons that I remember written from them was to growing up and leaving home and returning to the states would mean returning to perpetual childhood.

 

[Oba Cahokia]

Probably not much, other than it adds a little bit to the pool of educated African Americans. They might go for politics, or work in government administration or try to educate the Freedmen. If they can coax any decent number of indigenous Liberians, then they'll try and set up plantations in the south and use these men and women as sharecroppers. Rich white southerners would appreciate the latter class too, since they'd be easy to exploit while the educated Americo-Liberians considered yet another threat.

Overall the numbers and effect is likely too small to prevent the "redemption" of the South and disenfranchisement of African Americans.

Why would they be in an inferior position? The ones who survive will legally own plenty of land, are rather wealthy, have experience in administering the region, are educated, and perhaps crucially for the British, are usually mixed-race. They have plenty of reason to want to stay in Liberia.

What about Afro populations from Cuba and Puerto Rico?

 

[NibiruMul]

White Southerners, especially members of the elite, would be furious, and even among American-born blacks there would probably be some antipathy and discomfort towards the newcomers. It's very likely that immigration laws that ban all black immigration would eventually be passed in this timeline.