1847 Liberia commemorative Glass Flag Love Liberty Historic Colonial Anniversary . Buddy 's dad had this forever, was offered big bucks for it, its a etched glass of the 1847 August twenty fourth celebration!!! amazing this has lasted this long! not sure how he ended up owning it, Really cool piece of history! survived 175 years!!! Real Piece of history, think it should go thru a big auction house, (ive never done that) we do a lot of ebay, figured Id list it for him, he had a heart attack & pretty well out of it, dont think he ever sold anything.... once he owned it it was off the market..... if you know any good history on this Id really enjoy learning about it, copied some info I found online to tell some history of it.........
enjoy!!
cg
The FLAG of Liberia and the Ladies.
("The Twenty-fourth," African Repository and Colonial Journal (1825-1849), January 1848, 15. This article also says the first flag included the national motto "The love of liberty" over the lone star and "brought us here" appliqued under it. This may have been a special flag made for the August twenty-forth celebration, as the flag adopted by resolution July 29, 1847 at the Constitutional Convention did not have any text on it.)
The Liberian Flag, Women’s Work
In the summer of 1847, the citizens of Liberia sent representatives from each county to Monrovia to develop a national constitution and declaration of independence from the American Colonization Society. The men of the Constitutional Convention were emigrants from the United States. Governor Joseph J. Roberts (1809 - 1876), who would become the first black President of Liberia, invited several prominent women to the State House in Monrovia.
He had a special, historical task for them. Governor Roberts appointed the women to make a flag that would symbolize the hope of this new African nation. The black women, all American-born, included:
1._Mrs. Susannah Waring Lewis, Committee Chairwoman, 32 years old, mother of five
2._Sarah Draper
3._Mrs. Mary Hunter
4._Mrs. Rachel Johnson, 49 years old, mother of six
5._Mrs. J. B. Russwurm
6._Mrs. Matilda Spencer Newport, 52 years old
7._Mrs. Collinette Teage
Historians argue whether the story of Betsy Ross (1752-1836) making the first American flag is true or not. The popular account is that twenty-four year old Betsy Ross received three visitors to her Philadelphia upholstery shop one afternoon in 1776. The visitors were Continental Army General George Washington and Congressional representatives Robert Morris, a wealthy landowner, and George Ross, the uncle of Betsy’s late husband John Ross. The men had a sketch of the flag they wanted to represent the nation.
Betsy Ross is said to have reviewed the sketch and suggested a five-pointed star instead of the six-pointed one in the drawing. The men asked Ross to keep the flag-making venture a secret until it was known whether the Congress would in fact declare independence from England. Ross kept the secret and worked alone on the flag, made of bunting, a coarse, loose weave fabric.
The creation of the Liberian national flag differed in significant ways from the creation of the United States flag. The Liberian flag was collaboratively constructed. The efforts by the seven black women must have seemed similar to a joyful quilting party for the construction of an important wedding or memorial quilt. The tasks would have been cooperatively executed under the leadership of Susannah Lewis. One or two of the women would have secured the flag fabric. One or two women would have expertly cut the fabrics. All would have participated in the sewing. The women were appointed in public from the State House. The making of the Liberian flag was a public honor. Neither settler women nor indigenous Liberian women were able to vote in 1847. However, these seven women used their sewing skills to participate in this nation-building process. One can image how filled with selfpride the women were to be selected.
The Liberian flag was made of silk instead of bunting, according to one who saw the first flag. The women hand-stitched the new red, white, and blue flag. The three colors symbolized the three original Liberian counties of Grand Bassa, Montserrado, and Sinoe. Eleven stripes represented each of the signers of the Liberian Declaration of Independence. The red strips symbolized valor and bravery of the founding settlers. The white strips represented purity. The dark blue canton in the upper left corner stood for fidelity and the continent of Africa. A five-pointed star inside the blue background represented Liberia itself, the first independent country on the continent of Africa.
On Tuesday morning, August 24, 1847, a day of national celebration, the new flag was presented. All businesses were closed in Monrovia and surrounding settlements.
Men, women, and children lined the streets and cheered as military units paraded by. Governor Joseph J. Roberts and his wife Jane waited outside the entrance of the State House for representatives of the flag committee to arrive.
At the appointed hour Susannah Lewis, Mary Hunter, Rachel Johnson, Collinette Teage, Mrs. C. Hazel, Mrs. C. Ellis, and Mrs. W. N. Yates slowly proceeded to the State House. As the group reached the staging area, Mrs. Lewis handed the flag to one of the ladies and continued to the podium. She greeted the crowd, spoke about the sewing women on the Flag Committee and gave "a neat patriotic speech."
Mrs. Lewis then presented the national flag to Governor Roberts as the crowd cheered wildly. Governor Roberts accepted the flag and passed it along to the standard bearer, who hoisted the flag up a thirty foot high staff.
The new flag was replicated and sent to various settlements throughout Liberia. Presumably another advantage of a collaborative Flag Committee was to produce multiple copies of the national symbol
122321-cg117