Over 250 Liberians are expected to visit Barbados from May 6 to 13, in recognition of the 159th Anniversary of the Migration of 346 Barbadians to the West African country.
Under the theme Sankofa: The Pilgrimage to Barbados, the historic visit is being coordinated by a team from Liberia, headed by Ambassador Llewelyn Witherspoon, and the Division of Culture, Prime Minister’s Office.
Other stakeholders involved in the venture include the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., The University of the West Indies, Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Export Barbados, and Barbados Tourism Investment Inc.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who expressed pleasure about the upcoming visit, stated: “This pilgrimage to Barbados represents a reunion of family. Barbados and Liberia have long held a close genealogical and cultural connection. This trip represents an opportunity for us to now connect in a new way, while still paying respects to the past. I sincerely welcome Ambassador Witherspoon and former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and look forward to the positive developments that will no doubt come.”
The pilgrimage presents a unique opportunity to broaden Barbadians’ knowledge of Liberia and to explore the possibility of cultural cooperation and a knowledge exchange between the two countries.
It also provides an opportunity for investment and business prospects as well as to learn more about the work in research and genealogy being undertaken by the Department of Archives and The University of the West Indies (The UWI) chronicling the Barbados/Liberia experience.
During the eight-day visit, the Liberians will engage in a number of educational and cultural heritage events that include a Heritage and Island Tour hosted by the Division of Culture and The UWI’s Faculty of History and Humanities; an Archives Genealogy Marketplace, hosted by the Department of Archives and the Prime Minister’s Office; and a Liberia-Barbados Business Roundtable and Exhibition.
The highlight of the pilgrimage will be the commemoration of the 159th Anniversary of the Departure to Liberia, dubbed the Sankofa Moment Commemorative Plaque Laying Ceremony, opposite Government Headquarters, Bay Street, in recognition of the signal moment when the ship Brig CORA sailed from Bridgetown to Monrovia, Liberia, on April 6, 1865.
Following Emancipation, Barbadians, who returned to Africa as missionaries or in search of freedom, responded to the offer of citizenship and fertile land by the then President of Liberia to the “brethren of the Antilles”, as the Caribbean was called. This led to the first and only recorded post-Emancipation organised mass emigration of African Barbadians to Liberia in 1865.
Many of the early settlers and their descendants contributed to the development of Liberia. In fact, two of Liberia’s earliest Presidents, Arthur Barclay, and his nephew, Edwin Barclay, were of Barbadian descent, as well as Liberia’s longest serving First Lady of the 20th Century, Antoinette Padmore Tubman.