I checked, it's actually true. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_James_Roye .But the guy who stated it would have better described him as an Igbo DESCENDANT even though it seems his mum and dad were Igbo. Still, I was interested enough to read up a bit about him . It seems he had a controversial tenure, and a sad death


Edward Jenkins Roye: Liberia's Fifth President

[img]http://2.bp..com/-B7uqk_TA0Mw/UWKABu3AuuI/AAAAAAAALoM/W1EUnvlkMcI/s400/liberia+president.jpg[/img]

summary: Liberia's Fifth President, President Edward Jenkins Roye. Edward Roye was born into a prosperous family in Newark, Ohio. He emigrated to Liberia in 1846 and set up business as a merchant. In 1849, Roye became active in Liberian politics, rising to the position of President of the Republic in 1870. Roye took office in the midst of a fiscal crisis and was ultimately ousted by his opponents in 1871

More than 160 years ago, two members of the board of trustees of the town of Newark, Ohio met and issued an order that all Negroes should leave within twenty-four hours. A constable was sent out to the black community to inform them of the order of banishment. A young black boy ran to the home of the third member of the board of trustees, A.E. Elliot, begging him to use his influence to circumvent the order. Elliot, his son, and Eddie Roye, went along to the Square where a large crowd had gathered, both blacks and whites. The entire Negro population was pleading that they should not be driven from their homes. Elliot did use his influence, he protested that such hasty action would create hardship on the people involved. His arguments proved effective and the order was postponed until it could be given more consideration. The postponement became indefinite and was never brought up again. Trustee Elliot went about his affairs as usual, but young Eddie Roye must have walked away from the Square with a determination to find a land with freedom for "men of color."

[img]http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmss5/images/liberian.gif[/img]
The Liberian Senate. Robert K. Griffin. ca. 1856. Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USZC4-4908

The history of Edwards J. Roye and the history of Newark begin at about the same time. In 1810, just eight years after Newark was founded and surveyed, John Roye is recorded as having purchased a lot on the south side of the Square. Roye, said to have been born in slavery in Kentucky, came north with his wife Nancy and became a prosperous land owner. Their son, Edward J. Roye was born in a little house on what is now Mount Vernon Road on Feb. 3, 1815. He was educated in Newark schools, but nothing much is known of his early years. In 1822, his father sold his Newark property and went to Illinois, leaving Edward and his mother behind. A letter dated April 14, 1829, from John Edward Roye, is in the Vandalia Illinois courthouse. The letter beginning, "Dear Son," leaves all the property John Roye had acquired in Illinois to his son Edward.


Newark, Ohio

Several biographers say Edward Roye became a barber, which was acceptable occupation for a black at that time. Newark did not have a white barber until 1856. By the year 1832, Edward Roye had left his hometown and was enrolled in Ohio University in Athens. He went on to teach school at Chillicothe in 1836 and after that he moved to Terre Houte, Ind., where he opened that city's first bathhouse/barbershop next door to the best hotel.

By the time Nancy Roye died and was buried in the Sixth Street cemetery in 1840, the mood of the country was changing. Colonizationists wanted to remove all blacks and send them to Africa. Whether due to changing in climate of the 1840's or to the scene around the Square that day in his childhood, Edward Roye decided to leave the United States for an African country, Liberia. On May 1, 1846, Roye sailed from New York and one month later landed in Monrovia.


1850 photo Portrait of Edward James Roye

His energy and intelligence soon made him a leading merchant and after acquiring great wealth, he returned to the U.S. on his own ship. It is said he visited Newark where he was entertained at a banquet for an event for Thomas Ewin, adoptive father of William Tecumseh Sherman.

Years later Roye became chief justice, speaker of the House, and finally, president of Liberia in 1871. He began a program of reconstruction for his nation intending to build new roads and schools.

For these purposes he needed money. Roye sailed for England where he began negotiations with London banks. The results proved ruinous, the terms of the loans were severe, among other things carrying an interest of 7 percent. Roye hastily agreed without consulting the legislature. Liberia actually received about $90,000, while bonds were issued for $400,000.


The whole affair caused great resentment against him, and when he returned home he was accused of embezzlement. He then tried to extend his two-year term of president by edict, after the people rose up against him.

In October 1871, Edward J. Roye was deposed from office., He was brought to trial, but escaped in the night . His is believed to have drowned while trying to reach a English ship in Monrovia harbor, on Feb. 12, 1872.

After many years the nation of Liberia has taken another look at their fifth president. A building housing what was the True Wig Party headquarters is named in his honor, as well as a ship, a town, and several schools.

Edward J. Roye

Was he a villain or a victim of political planning? Did he seek his own prosperity of that or the common man?

The Ohio Historical Society refers to Edward James Roye as the "ninth and forgotten president from Ohio." While in a land far away from the "land of Legend" he is known by some as the "Lincoln of Liberia."


//done

Where is igbo in the article The identity crisis you guys suffer from, eehn!

whitecat2:
Where is igbo in the article The identity crisis you guys suffer from, eehn!

SMH. If you bothered to read the article, then hopefully you read about Edward J. Roye and didn't simply go through it looking for the word Igbo . If you'd like to confirm the fact, the wikipedia link at the top is all i've provided.

It has now become a pandemic. This Ibo looking-for-national-greatness-titis. We have to start emergency vaccination immediately. We cannot even wait to find out why it is only Ibo people this illness is catching.

whitecat2 hope this helps

culled from Wikipedia:

Early Life
Roye was born into a prosperous African American family in Newark, Ohio. Roye was a descendant of the Igbo people.His father, John Roye, managed a ferry across the Wabash River at Terre Haute, Indiana and acquired considerable land in Terre Haute as well as Vandalia in the neighboring state of Illinois. As a result of the family's financial standing, young Edward was able to attend Ohio University in neighboring Athens, Ohio. In 1836, upon the premature death of his father, Roye relocated to Terre Haute where he established the community's largest barber shop, boasting a 79-foot (24 m) high barber pole, "the tallest in western Indiana".....

I sha enjoy the article

Adminisher:
It has now become a pandemic. This Ibo looking-for-national-greatness-titis. We have to start emergency vaccination immediately. We cannot even wait to find out why it is only Ibo people this illness is catching.

sigh...guys please don't do this to my thread. There is nothing else to describe the guy, he was Liberian president b4 Nigeria even existed so that rules out Nigerian. Its surprising that he was Igbo, but what is interesting is how a descendant of former slaves from another part of Africa was allowed to become a president. Also interesting is his tenure as a president, and what they did to him when the economy failed. Right now that same African country has a female president, so its pretty much true to its name, Liberia, a place of liberal people. Imagine if Nigeria could be as liberal as they are...

MOBJECTIVE:



sigh...guys please don't do this to my thread. There is nothing else to describe the guy, he was Liberian president b4 Nigeria even existed so that rules out Nigerian. Its surprising that he was Igbo, but what is interesting is how a descendant of former slaves from another part of Africa was allowed to become a president. Also interesting is his tenure as a president, and what they did to him when the economy failed. Right now that same African country has a female president, so its pretty much true to its name, Liberia, a place of liberal people. Imagine if Nigeria could be as liberal as they are...

You don't need to plead with those blank heads


Guy you tried

The truth is that they are Africans who meant well for their people but have fallen victim to unscrupulous persons organizations nations


Just like GEJ is trying his best to put things in order but some evil black and white persons, organizations/nations just seek to destroy his regime and set us backward because of greed.

MOBJECTIVE:
whitecat2 hope this helps

culled from Wikipedia:

Early Life
Roye was born into a prosperous African American family in Newark, Ohio. Roye was a descendant of the Igbo people.His father, John Roye, managed a ferry across the Wabash River at Terre Haute, Indiana and acquired considerable land in Terre Haute as well as Vandalia in the neighboring state of Illinois. As a result of the family's financial standing, young Edward was able to attend Ohio University in neighboring Athens, Ohio. In 1836, upon the premature death of his father, Roye relocated to Terre Haute where he established the community's largest barber shop, boasting a 79-foot (24 m) high barber pole, "the tallest in western Indiana".....

Whitecat2 pls change your moniker to greencat2

MOBJECTIVE:



sigh...guys please don't do this to my thread. There is nothing else to describe the guy, he was Liberian president b4 Nigeria even existed so that rules out Nigerian. its surprising that he was Igbo, but what is interesting is how a descendant of former slaves from another part of Africa was allowed to become a president. Also interesting is his tenure as a president, and what they did to him when the economy failed. Right now that same African country has a female president, so its pretty much true to its name, Liberia, a place of liberal people. Imagine if Nigeria could be as liberal as they are...

Liberia actually was established to take in freed slaves from America at the end of the slave trade

BlackTechnology:



You don't need to plead with those blank heads


Guy you tried

The truth is that they are Africans who meant well for their people but have fallen victim to unscrupulous persons organizations nations


Just like GEJ is trying his best to put things in order but some evil black and white persons, organizations/nations just seek to destroy his regime and set us backward because of greed.

GEJ is trying to put things in order.
Is it genetic or just a new thing, this open embrace of falsehood?. I can't believe my country again. Does GEJ know what putting in order mean?. Did he ever even want to be president?. I want you to go through the archives and give me any article, public lecture, symposium or anything impelled by social conscience that GEJ has done before he was shooed into become VP to Yaradua. Please stop lying to yourself. The man has never had a social conscience and really did not even want public life. He never did anything political until Alamieyesegha made him deputy governor in a move ordained by God himself. Please don't tell me about GEJ putting anything in order, some clever ministers are running the government, his godfathers and some advisers are running the presidency and all he has been doing is steal money and play figure head. Please be mature enough to admit the truth. The man never had passion anything but to be a private citizen with a rather bossy wife.

MOBJECTIVE:



sigh...guys please don't do this to my thread. There is nothing else to describe the guy, he was Liberian president b4 Nigeria even existed so that rules out Nigerian. Its surprising that he was Igbo, but what is interesting is how a descendant of former slaves from another part of Africa was allowed to become a president. Also interesting is his tenure as a president, and what they did to him when the economy failed. Right now that same African country has a female president, so its pretty much true to its name, Liberia, a place of liberal people. Imagine if Nigeria could be as liberal as they are...

Why is it surprising? Liberia was established as a colony of former slaves who wished to return to Africa, many people in Liberia today are descendants of African Americans that returned to Africa. All of their founding presidents were from America.

There are many igbos, edo and yoruba ppl from brazil in liberia, as citizens, settled there for decades.

What is interesting about the igbos though is that many of them retained their igbo names, i met one in kaduna, NDA, on short service course, sent and paid for by liberia govt, the guys family has been there for centuries and they just have nigerian blood, there are not nigerians anymore.

Infact i know some lebanese who are more nigerian than them.

django1:


Why is it surprising? Liberia was established as a colony of former slaves who wished to return to Africa, many people in Liberia today are descendants of African Americans that returned to Africa. All of their founding presidents were from America.

and @lookooman
When I briefly read about Liberia's founding. It sounded like the natives simply made way and allowed the African Americans to rule them. But considering it a bit, it seemed a lot like African descendants colonizing Africans , unless the local Africans mentioned below were liberal enough to accept them freely. And that's how writers make it seem - like the local Africans there were very accepting - which is surprising.

Something from wikipedia:

Liberia was founded by the United States while occupied by local Africans. Beginning in 1820, the area was settled by African Americans, most of whom were freed slaves....

....The colonists and their descendants, known as Americo-Liberians, led the political, social, cultural and economic sectors of the country and ruled the nation for over 130 years as a dominant minority.

That won't be such a bad idea! Please don't tell me you are feeling einsteinish over what a kid can edit? Oh My My!

BlackTechnology:


Whitecat2 pls change your moniker to greencat2

Wiki? Besides it looks like something that was recently added in a hurry, as it didn't flow with the rest of the informations. Please quote more reliable source next time.

MOBJECTIVE:
whitecat2 hope this helps

culled from Wikipedia:

Early Life
Roye was born into a prosperous African American family in Newark, Ohio. Roye was a descendant of the Igbo people.His father, John Roye, managed a ferry across the Wabash River at Terre Haute, Indiana and acquired considerable land in Terre Haute as well as Vandalia in the neighboring state of Illinois. As a result of the family's financial standing, young Edward was able to attend Ohio University in neighboring Athens, Ohio. In 1836, upon the premature death of his father, Roye relocated to Terre Haute where he established the community's largest barber shop, boasting a 79-foot (24 m) high barber pole, "the tallest in western Indiana".....