People, Locations, Episodes

Fri, 08.03.1832

Edward W. Blyden, Nationalist born

*On this date, we recall the birth of Edward Wilmot Blyden in 1832. He was a Black Nationalist and repatriation advocate.

From St. Thomas in the West Indies, Blyden was educated beginning at the age of twelve, when a white pastor encouraged him to make the ministry his life’s work. At eighteen, upon coming to America, he could not find a seminary that would accept a Black student. Instead, he went to Liberia under the sponsorship of New York's American Colonization Society to study at the new Alexander High School in Monrovia. Seven years later, he was the principal of the school.

As an adult, Blyden had two careers: a teacher and a scholar.  In his writings, he defended his race at every opportunity, exalted the achievements of other Blacks, attacked slavery, and advocated the repatriation of his people back to Africa.  As a teacher, he was a professor of classics from 1862 to 1871 and president of Liberia College from 1880 to 1884.  At the same time as a politician and diplomat in Liberia, he was Secretary of State from 1864 to 1866, Minister of Interior from 1880 to 1882, Minister to Britain from 1877 to 1878 and 1892, and Minister Plenipotentiary to London and Paris in 1905.

Blyden traveled to America eight times to represent Liberia; his last visit was in 1895. He studied Christianity and Islam, summarizing his views in his influential book 'Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race.'  Between 1901 and 1905, he was the Director of Education in Sierra Leone.  Edward Blyden died in 1912.

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