In the shadow of the monument to the man who spoke the above words, assembled the 1964 Civil Rights march. The heavens must have laughed in irony. I searched out the text of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and found to my consternation that even his speech that accompanied it called for the deportation of the Blacks from America and their repatriation to Africa:

…and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent with their consent of upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued. (From the emancipation proclamation issued from President Lincoln on Sept. 22, 1862) ¹

The following are President Lincoln's words at a repatriation ceremony in Washington, D.C.

I have urged the colonization of the negroes, and I shall continue. My Emancipation Proclamation was linked with this plan. There is no room for two distinct races of white men in America, much less for two distinct races of whites and blacks.

I can conceive of no greater calamity than the assimilation of the negro into our social and political life as our equal...

Within twenty years we can peacefully colonize the negro and give him our language, literature, religion, and system of government under conditions in which he can rise to the full measure of manhood. This he can never do here. We can never attain the ideal union our fathers dreamed, with millions of an alien, inferior race among us, whose assimilation is neither possible nor desirable. (Vol. V, pp. 371-5) ²

See our present condition — The country engaged in war! — our white men cutting one another's throats . . . and then consider what we know to be the truth.

But for your race among us there could not be war, although many men engaged on either side do not care

for you one way or the other . . . It is better for us both therefore to be separated. . .

You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. (address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes in Washington, DC on August 14, 1862 (Vol. V p. 371)) ³

To Lincoln the only workable long-term solution to the race problem in America is repatriation. He shared this opinion with the company of many other giants of American history, among them Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and even the writer of our national anthem, Francis Scott Key. All were active members of the American Colonization Society, founded in 1817 in Washington, D.C. Even though some Americans will have a hard time believing it, African colonization by freed slaves had actually begun before Lincoln's assassination. The African nation of Liberia was formed, its name taken from the Latin word meaning freedom. Its capitol, Monrovia, was named after President James Monroe, a strong advocate of Black repatriation. Until recent times Liberia's government was ruled by the direct descendants of Black slaves from America.

Many Black leaders also supported the repatriation movement, including the much-venerated Black leader of the 1920s and 1930s, Marcus Garvey. A petition of 400,000 Blacks requesting repatriation was presented before the United States Congress in 1935; its powerful words bear repeating:

Given an opportunity in our ancestral Africa, the knowledge of farming and of simple farm machinery and implements, which we have acquired here would enable us to carve a frugal but decent livelihood out of the Virgin soil and favorable climate of Liberia. . .We are a liability now, and any cost of this project, no matter how great, would still, we sincerely believe, be a sound investment for the American people. ⁴