Proxy settler colonialism and its journals: Adam Nemmers, ‘From America to Liberia: U. S. colonization, racial repatriation, and the reversed rhetoric of John Brown Russwurm’, Settler Colonial Studies, 2026 | settler colonial studies blog

Proxy settler colonialism and its journals: Adam Nemmers, ‘From America to Liberia: U. S. colonization, racial repatriation, and the reversed rhetoric of John Brown Russwurm’, Settler Colonial Studies, 2026

16Nov26

Abstract: This article charts the ideological journey of the titular journalist to chronicle the duality of American settler colonization. During the first decades of the nineteenth century, many U. S. colonizationists, both black and white, promoted the argument that African Americans were better off returning to Africa and should be removed thence for their own good and that of the American nation. As co-editor of the first African American newspaper (Freedom’s Journal) and editor of the first Liberian newspaper (the Liberia Herald), Russwurm was uniquely positioned to influence the debate through his journalistic purview. Rather than taking a firm and permanent stance, colonization discourse came out of both sides of Russwurm’s mouth, as he first opposed, then supported the Liberian project, eventually joining the Americo-Liberian colonists in establishing an outpost of American Empire. Ironically, the predominantly African American settler colonists went about replicating the plantation society of the U. S. South in a microcosm of the past and future U. S. colonial endeavors. Via a study that juxtaposes Brown Russwurm’s journalistic rhetoric, I offer analysis and commentary on the nature of U. S. settler colonialism, arguing that his (and Liberia’s) example demonstrates the corrupting power of power on any ruling population.

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