Editing History of Liberia (section)

===Society===

==== Americo-Liberian and indigenous segregation (1847–1940) ====
[[File:LiberiaKing.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Charles D. B. King]], 17th President of Liberia (1920–1930), with his entourage on the steps of the [[Peace Palace]], The Hague (the Netherlands), 1927.]]
The social order in Liberia was dominated by Americo-Liberians. Although descended primarily from peoples of African origin, often with some white ancestry as slave owners commonly impregnated their female slaves{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} (see [[Children of the plantation]]), the ancestors of most Americo-Liberians had been born in the United States for generations before emigrating to Africa. As a result, they held American cultural, religious, and social values. Like most Americans of the period, the Americo-Liberians held a firm belief in the religious superiority of [[Christianity]], and indigenous [[animism]] and culture became systematically oppressed.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

The Americo-Liberians created communities and a society that reflected closely the American society they had known. They spoke English, and built churches and houses in styles resembling those found in the [[Southern United States]].  The Americo-Liberians controlled the native peoples' access to the ocean, modern technology and skills, literacy, higher levels of education, and valuable relationships with many of the United States' institutions—including the American government.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Global Impacts of White Racism: Americo-Liberians |url = http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2009/01/04/global-impacts-of-white-racism-americo-liberians |website=racismreview.com |access-date = 2015-11-27 |language = en-US |date = 2009-01-04 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190810200411/http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2009/01/04/global-impacts-of-white-racism-americo-liberians |archive-date = August 10, 2019|url-status = dead}}</ref>

Reflecting the [[Segregation in the United States|system of segregation]] in the United States, the Americo-Liberians created a cultural and racial caste system, with themselves at the top and indigenous Liberians at the bottom. They believed in a form of "racial equality," which meant that all residents of Liberia had the potential to become "civilized" through western-style education and conversion to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Slaves to Racism: An Unbroken Chain from America to Liberia|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4KQS29TYYGQC|publisher = Algora Publishing|date = 2008-01-01|isbn = 9780875866581|first1 = Benjamin G.|last1 = Dennis|first2 = Anita K.|last2 = Dennis|access-date = November 27, 2015|archive-date = January 16, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160116163900/https://books.google.com/books?id=4KQS29TYYGQC|url-status = live}}</ref>

====Social change (1940–1980)====
During [[World War II]], thousands of indigenous Liberians migrated from the nation's rural interior to the coastal regions in search of jobs. The Liberian Government had long opposed this kind of migration, but was no longer able to restrain it. In the decades after 1945, the Liberian government received hundreds of millions of dollars of unrestricted foreign investment, which destabilized the Liberian economy. Government revenue rose enormously, but was being grossly embezzled by government officials. Growing economic disparities caused increased hostility between indigenous groups and Americo-Liberians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World|last=Lansford|first=T.|publisher=Routledge|year=2007|editor-last=Rodriguez|editor-first=J.|location=London, UK|via=Credo Reference}}</ref>

The social tensions led President [[William Tubman]] to enfranchise the indigenous Liberians either in 1951 or 1963 (accounts differ). Tubman and his Whig Party continued to repress political opposition and rig elections.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}