Pennsylvania Colonization Society Membership Certificate

This certificate for lifetime membership in the Pennsylvania Colonization Society includes a lithographed "View of Monrovia," the capital city of Liberia where, in 1822, the American Colonization Society established a colony for freed slaves from the United States. The image depicts a party of immigrants being warmly greeted as they disembark from a small boat manned by white sailors. The Monrovia settlement is visible in the distance. The Pennsylvania Colonization Society was a state chapter of the American Colonization Society, which advocated gradual emancipation and the resettlement of freed slaves in Africa. Monrovia was named in honor of James Monroe, the president of the United States from 1817 to 1825 who supported the colonization program.