Jackie Sayegh, who grew up in Liberia, presented to Spencer Elementary School students during the unit on Africa.  Through Jackie's stories, children learned about this country, located on the west coast of Africa, bordering Sierra Leone and Guineau. Liberia was established in 1821 by the American Colonization Society.  In Liberian, "liber" means "free," and Liberia was the country to which slaves were returned.  The motto for Liberia was "Love of liberty brought us here."  In 1847, Liberia declared independence from the Republic of Liberia.

While indigenous people were the original inhabitants,  freed slaves, who thought of themselves as American,  distinguished themselves from the native people, preferring to be known as "Americo-Liberians." They even named some cities after U.S. cities; Maryland,  Monrovia (named after James Monroe) and Lexington are examples. 

Today, there are 2 million people in Liberia who believe it takes a village to raise a child.  Corporal punishment is practiced in schools which are structured K-6 (elementary), 7-9 (middle school) and 10-12 (high school). Jackie attended a private, Catholic all-girls' school,   These were the most expensive and were run by Irish nuns.   After High School,  students are given a government exam a bit like our Scholastic Aptitude tests.  If you pass,  you have graduation and you take entrance exams to university.

While English is the official language at school, the tribal language is the official language at home. Schools use a lot of textbooks from the U.S. and England and they learn about U.S. history and read classics from literature such as The Canterbury Tales. Many are now  requesting that the history of indigenous peoples be taught as well. 

Popular Culture is strongly influenced by western tastes. The Council of Churches censored movies.  Through ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) ministries, Christian Radio is provided for citizens through the Liberian Broadcasting Station.   At night,  country music is played. Stores close on Sunday.  Women did not wear pants and there was no casual dating.  Kids hung out in groups.  If you dated a person,  you dated the whole family and families of the boy and the girl would meet. 

The current president of Liberia is Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf,  a native Liberian, and the first female head of an African state. Sirleaf is trying to improve basic services to citizens such as water and electricity and has also set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address crimes committed during the later stages of Liberia's long civil war.

Daniel M. uses a stamp he created of an African symbol to create a mud cloth.