“I shed tears and I wished my family was there with me to see and take a look at the documents that revealed the truth of our family connection dating far back in Liberia, says Koromah Boykins.
Koromah Boykins is on a mission. A mission he says to reclaim the land of his ancestors and origins of his family in Liberia.
Boykins says his quest to discover his roots began in 1993 when he stumbled on some deeds in his family archives dated as far back as March 30th 1882.
Boykins says the deeds show an annexation of a territory taken over by the British. “That territory is where my grand parents came from. I became curious and set out on a journey to London to investigate and make research. It was during the research that I conducted when I finally became to understand that I have a Liberian background. I now knew that the history of my town in Liberia has been buried but I was able to find it,” say Boykins.
Boykins is among a growing number of African-Americans seeking citizenship in Liberia.
Charles L. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of Restore Negroes Heritage to Africa says the thing that stands out the most in his mind is, “there are lots of ordinary Liberians who believe that Liberia was founded as a homeland for freed slaves from America, their descendants, and all people of color who want to live free. That premise we can say is long forgotten, and is totally unfulfilled. Many of the founding fathers descendants who are citizens of Liberia continue to serve the Caucasians of the Western world until this day,” says Jones.
Jones says he himself has been involved in trying to reclaim his citizenship from Liberia. “I’ve been doing this since 1999, when I got back from Liberia, went to the U.S. State…more
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I actually tried to piece together my family history some time ago, but was told that key family records in the Carolinas FOR COLOREDS were destroyed after a certain year. I tried to get the info via family members, but all except one did not want to put forth minimum effort. This was something that I wanted to have for my children so that they can know about their history. Oh well, maybe I’ll meet Kunta at the mall somewhere and he will work it out for me.
