1st Edition

Bitter Canaan Story of the Negro Republic

Edited By Charles Johnson Copyright 1987

    A neglected classic, unpublished until now, Bitter Canaan is a historical-sociological account of Liberian society. Written in 1930 and revised in 1948 by the influential, pioneering black sociologist Charles S. Johnson, it has remained talked about but unknown.

    Founded in 1821, Liberia was conceived as a haven for freed American slaves. Johnson traces the historical development of American race relations that lead to the emigration of thousands of blacks to Liberia. The struggles in leaving America and settling the African wilderness are detailed. He shows how a Liberian nationality evolved and how the social, economic, and politi-cal foundations of the nascent state affected its history. His critical study of American corporate intervention in Liberian society in the twentieth century has the flair of contemporary political analysis.

    Exodus

    The Land of Gold

    The Wilderness Years

    Harsh Heaven

    Hunger and War

    Promised Land

    The Nascent State

    Nationalism

    The Native

    The Tragedy of Loans

    Foreign Aggression

    Economic Foundations

    Politics and the Public Weal

    Pillars of the Republic

    The Slavery Issue

    Up-Country

    Bitter Ca-naan

    Biography

    Charles S. Johnson