Separation of Native Liberians from their Families
The forced labor at Fernando Po separated indigenous Liberian boys and men from their families in Liberia. This weakened the indigenous Liberian society and economy, because husbands and the boys could not support the family. Native populations continued to dwindle as Americo-Liberians continued to exert their influence over them and take their men.
A barber who worked on the Kru coast barber said he witnessed his own cousin and nephew getting abducted by labor traffickers and being put on ships to either work on sea ports or on the island of Fernando Po. Another laborer stated that "women were difficult to get and those available were diseased." They had no family or home, and disease was common. These conditions were even more harsh than slavery in other parts of the world, and hardly different from the very same enslavement that the Americo-Liberians were subject to. This slavery, ironically, was abolished by the United States well before the time frame of the Fernando Po Crisis.
A barber who worked on the Kru coast barber said he witnessed his own cousin and nephew getting abducted by labor traffickers and being put on ships to either work on sea ports or on the island of Fernando Po. Another laborer stated that "women were difficult to get and those available were diseased." They had no family or home, and disease was common. These conditions were even more harsh than slavery in other parts of the world, and hardly different from the very same enslavement that the Americo-Liberians were subject to. This slavery, ironically, was abolished by the United States well before the time frame of the Fernando Po Crisis.