Liberia, 1900-1950: Accounts of the First African Republic

The late Attorney General of Liberia C. Abayomi Cassell published the first volume of his Liberia: History of the first African Republic, in 1970, and promised a second volume. After many years, the second volume is only now being published posthumously. Both volumes of the work are eye-witness accounts of Liberia's political and presidential history. The two key witnesses are the author's father, the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Henry Benedict Cassell (1872-1939), and the author himself (1906-1986). The elder Cassell was a priest in the Episcopal Church and president of Liberia College (now the University of Liberia) from 1918 to1935. This Volume II starts with Coleman's second term in January 1900, a term that was truncated by his resignation in December 1900. It then continues the chronicling to 1952, the end of the first eight-year term of President William V. S. Tubman (1944-1971).