Clay-Ashland is a township located from the capital city of

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

. The town is in the St. Paul River District of

Montserrado County Montserrado County is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia containing its national capital, Monrovia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has 17 sub p ...

. It is named after

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

— a slaveowner and

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the repatriation of freeborn peop ...

co-founder who favored gradual emancipation — and his estate Ashland in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

."Kentucky in Africa" (special edition of ''Kentucky Life'')

Kentucky Educational Television Kentucky Educational Television (KET) is a statewide television network serving the U.S. Commonwealth (U.S. state), commonwealth of Kentucky as a member of PBS. It is operated by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, an agency of ...

(Aug. 15, 2005). Established in 1846, Clay-Ashland was part of a colony called

Kentucky In Africa Kentucky in Africa was a colony in present-day Montserrado County, Liberia, founded in 1828 and settled by American free people of color, many of them former slaves. A state affiliate of the American Colonization Society, the Kentucky State Colo ...

, because it was settled by

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

immigrants primarily from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

under the auspices of the American Colonization Society.

History

A Kentucky state affiliate of the ACS was formed in 1828, and members raised money to transport Kentucky blacks —

freeborn "Freeborn" is a term associated with political agitator John Lilburne (1614–1657), a member of the Levellers, a 17th-century English political party. As a word, "freeborn" means born free, rather than in slavery or bondage or vassalage. Lilbu ...

volunteers as well as slaves set free on the stipulation that they leave the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

— to Africa. The Kentucky society bought a site along the

Saint Paul River The Saint Paul River is a river of western Africa. Its headwaters are in southeastern Guinea. Its upper portion in Guinea is known as the Diani River or Niandi River, and forms part of the boundary between Guinea and Liberia. It is known local ...

and named it Kentucky in Africa. Clay-Ashland was the colony's main town. Notable residents have included William D. Coleman, the 13th President of Liberia, whose family settled in Clay-Ashland after immigrating from

Fayette County, Kentucky Fayette County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Kentucky and is consolidated with the city of Lexington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 322,570, making it the second-most populous county in the common ...

when he was a boy. Moses Ricks, a successful farmer and Baptist missionary who founded the still-running Ricks Institute in 1887 to provide a Christian education to indigenous youth in Liberia, also grew up in the town. Alfred Francis Russell, the 10th President of Liberia, also resided in Clay-Ashland.

Martha Ann Erskine Ricks Martha Ann Harris Ricks (born Erskine, c. 1817–1901), also called Aunt Martha in her community, was an Americo-Liberian woman among the early colonists to the Colony of Liberia. Born into slavery in Tennessee, she was freed by her father, Georg ...

lived here after her father bought her out of slavery. In 1892 she received a Royal audience with Queen Victoria. The

True Whig Party The True Whig Party (TWP), also known as the Liberian Whig Party (LWP), is the oldest political party in Liberia and Africa as a whole. Founded in 1869 by primarily darker-skinned Americo-Liberians in rural areas, its historic rival was the Re ...

, which dominated Liberian politics for more than a century, was founded in Clay-Ashland in 1869.Donald A. Ranard, "Liberians: An Introduction to their History and Culture", Center for Applied Linguistics, April 2005

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Liberia Montserrado County Populated places established in 1846 1846 establishments in Liberia Populated places established by Americo-Liberians