Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Abergen.

This day, February 7th, 1820, 86 formerly enslaved people boarded a boat headed from New York to

Freetown Sierra Leone.

This was the first trip sponsored by a private group, the American

Colonization Society, that seek to help free slaves return to West Africa, namely to the region

that would come to be known as the country of Liberia.

Here to discuss the ACS how it actually complicated the abolitionist movement here in the United States

and the Back to Africa movement in general is as always

Nicole Hemmer of Columbia. Hello Nicky. Hello Jody and Kelly Carter Jackson of

Wellesley hello Kelly. Hey there. So Kelly you want to start by painting a picture of this moment 86 people getting onto this boat? What do we know about them and what do we know about this trip?

So it's 86 people men women, women, and some children.

And these are formerly freed slaves.

Many of them who were born in the United States

who have never lived in Africa before,

let alone in Liberia.

And they're making the long pilgrimage

of what could be considered a reverse middle passage

back to Africa.

We know during this time, it takes about three to four weeks depending upon weather

to get back to the West Coast of Africa. They leave during a pretty terrible time.

It's February, it's winter, it's cold. We know that a lot of people on board the ship get sick.

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