By Staff Reporter

The President, Board of Directors and the Organizing Committee of the Liberian Community in Minnesota-St. Paul wish to invite all members of the Liberian Community and friends of Liberia to programs marking the 163rd Independence Anniversary of Liberia.

According to the Chair of the 2010 Independence celebration, Ms. Caroline Galimah, all is set for the celebration of Liberia's 163rd Independence Anniversary. She said because the anniversary day (July 26th) falls on Monday, a week day, the main program will be observed on Saturday, July 24, 2010, a day closest to the anniversary day. She said the OLM and other Liberian organizations have been invited to collaborate with the LCM and/or participate in the festival marking the163rd Independence Anniversary of Liberia.

The program will be held at the Dunning Recreation Center at 1221 Marshall Avenue in Saint Paul, Minnesota with the independence Day Dinner - Ball which will start at 7:00 pm. She pointed out that Monday, july 26 will be Day of Reflection for all Liberians to focus on the way forward for Liberia coming out of a fourteen year civil and moving on with reconstruction, reconciliation and development.

Ms. Galimah said the Liberia's 163rd Independence Day Orator is Mr. Mr. Steve Wreh-Wilson. Mr. Wreh-Wilson is Licensed Real-estate Agent and the Home Ownership and Financial Literacy Director with the African Development Center in Minneapolis, MN. He once serve as the National Director of the Peace and Justice Commission of the Catholic Church of Liberia.

On Sunday, July 25, 2010, there will be Thanksgiving and intercessory service at the Pilgrim for Christ Ministries at 6477 10th Street, Oakdale Minnesota at12:00 pm. It is anticipated that all Liberians and friends of Liberia will be present to thank God for taking our nation through fourteen years of war and civil conflict and has set the country back on course for national healing, reconciliation, reconstruction and development.

Liberia was founded or set up by citizens of the United States as a colony for former African-American slaves in 1822. Republic of Liberia is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2008 Census, the nation is home to 3,476,608 people and covers 111,369 square kilometres (43,000 sq mi). The capital of Liberia is Monrovia, which was named for the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe.

Liberia declared its independence on July 16, 1847. Liberia's Declaration of Independence borrows much of its rhetoric from the United States's own Declaration, recognizing "In all men certain inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the right to acquire, possess, enjoy, and defend property."

Liberia's declaration also makes reference to the oppression African American expatriates suffered under in the United States and their inability to improve such conditions as justification for their need to establish a free and independent state on the western coast of Africa. The impetus behind Liberia's decision to formally sever itself from the American Colonization Society is discussed in the introduction to the Constitution of 1847.

Written by Hilary Teage, the signers of the Declaration of Independence were eleven representatives to the Constitutional Convention which convened in Monrovia on July 5, 1847: Samuel Benedict, Hilary Teage, Elijah Johnson, John Naustehlau Lewis, Beverly R. Wilson and J.B. Gripon (Montserrado County); John Day, Amos Herring, Anthony William Gardiner and Ephriam Titler (Grand Bassa County); and Jacob W. Prout and Richard E. Murray (Sinoe County).

In 1822, the American Colonization Society (A.C.S.), working to "repatriate" black Americans to greater freedom in Africa, established Liberia as a place to send people who were formerly enslaved. This movement of black people by the A.C.S. had broad support nationwide among white people in the United States, including politicians such as Henry Clay and James Monroe. They believed this was preferable to emancipation of slaves in the United States.