Excerpt from White Lies by Ann Bausum, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

These political tensions had influenced George Junkin's thinking about slavery as much or more than his analysis of the Bible. Junkin was a Unionist, meaning he placed great value on the preservation of the union of the United States of America. His father had fought in the Revolutionary War, and George Junkin was determined to protect his young country. He believed it would be a catastrophe for the United States to break apart over the issue of slavery. Therefore, if it was necessary to tolerate slavery in order to save the union, then so be it.

But Junkin didn't think slavery should last forever. He was among the many Americans—southern Whites included—who advocated for Black people to be repatriated, that is, sent back to Africa. This was not a new idea. Since before the Revolutionary War, people had been talking about returning Black people to Africa, starting with those who had never been enslaved. Lots of enslavers, including Thomas Jefferson, had considered taking the same step with the people they held in bondage. A few enslavers had even liberated some of their captive workers and arranged for their passage across the Atlantic.

A very few.

Thomas Jefferson was not one of them. Most enslavers only talked of such a development. Too much wealth was tied up in the people whom they claimed to own for them to act on the idea. And too many habits had become interwoven with the institution of slavery.

In 1816, the American Colonization Society was founded to resettle Blacks in Africa. With federal money, the group established a settlement on the west coast of Africa in 1821. That area was eventually named Liberia to commemorate its role as a site of liberation. Its capital, Monrovia, was named for President James Monroe, an enslaver and a supporter of the endeavor. Later, states' colonization societies sent more people, but it proved impractical to relocate all the nation's Blacks to the continent, and only about twenty thousand made the journey.

Whites who supported the repatriation of Blacks to Africa were often motivated by racist thinking as much as, or more than, by goodwill. Many preferred to live in an all-White society rather than one with multiple races. Sending Black Americans to Africa seemed like the best way to achieve that aim. Given the overwhelming logistics of such a transfer, however, these Whites considered it an acceptable alternative for Blacks to remain enslaved indefinitely in the United States. Indeed, enslavement seemed essential as a way to ensure the safety of enslavers and other Whites. Otherwise they feared Blacks would take revenge on them if their oppression ever ended.

Excerpted from White Lies by Ann Bausum. Copyright © 2025 by Ann Bausum. Excerpted by permission of Roaring Brook Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.