Maryland State Colonization Society Case Studies

The Maryland State Colonization Society was a former auxiliary of the American Colonization Society (ACS) that recruited free and manumitted black Marylanders to settle in Liberia. From 1832 to 1861, the Maryland State Colonization Society was largely supported by appropriations from the Maryland General Assembly. Colonization was common ground upon which both slavery supporters and opponents agreed. Many whites who felt that slavery was immoral believed that emigration from the United States was the only way that free blacks could escape racial prejudice and attain civil rights.

As part of a US Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program grant, and in cooperation with our partner the Maryland Historical Society, the Maryland State Archives created Maryland State Archives Special Collections (The Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society Collection) MSA SC 5977. The following case studies have been mined from this collection of records.

Related Materials: Maryland State Colonization Society Overview | The Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society Collection

Maryland State Colonization Society Biographies by Maryland County