HAGERSTOWN - In its day, the debate over sending freed black slaves to Africa was as heated as some of the most pressing concerns of the 21st century. Two centuries since the back-to-Africa movement gained steam, descendants of those decisions are now trying to overcome decades of civil war and unrest.
For blacks living under the crushing racism of 19th-century America, professor Debra Newman Ham said, the offer of settling elsewhere was no easy sell. At one meeting about a recolonization effort, Ham said, audience members reacted to the opportunity with stunned silence.
"They said it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop," Ham said.
As part of Black History Month, Ham, who teaches history at Morgan State University in Baltimore, presented, "Is Africa My Home?" Sunday at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. About a dozen people attended the lecture, which examined the movement to send free blacks to the African colony of Liberia during the 19th-century.