Robertsport is a town in western Liberia, about 10 miles from the Sierra Leone border. It is named after Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first president of Liberia.
Robertsport
Cape Mount Bay
Mount Zion Baptist Church
Hillside view
Joseph Jenkins Roberts was an Americo-Liberian merchant who emigrated to Liberia in 1829, where he became a politician. Elected as the first (1848–1856) and seventh (1872–1876) president of Liberia after independence, he was the first man of African descent to govern the country, serving previously as governor from 1841 to 1848. He later returned to office following the 1871 Liberian coup d'état. Born free in Norfolk, Virginia, Roberts emigrated as a young man with his mother, siblings, wife, and child to the young West African colony. He opened a trading firm in Monrovia and later engaged in politics.
Roberts c. 1865
Daguerreotype likely taken between 1840 and 1860.
President Roberts' residence on Ashmun Street.
Lithograph of the former home of Joseph Roberts in Monrovia