On July 26, 1847, Liberia adopted its constitution and declared independence. The Liberia constitutional convention marked the creation of Africa’s first republic, and its only surviving record was kept by an Alexandria physician, Dr. James W. Lugenbeel, who served as colonial doctor and recording secretary for the American Colonization Society.
Without his journal, historians would have only the final constitutional text, not the deliberative process behind it.
His account remains the sole surviving record of how formerly enslaved people and their descendants debated constitutional self-government in Africa.
And he’s buried right here in Alexandria.
Read the full story: The Man Who Documented Liberia’s Constitutional Convention