September 22, 2026

To H.E. President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and the National Legislature,

Providence Island is the site where some of the most consequential chapters in African and Liberian history have taken place: the trans-Atlantic slave trade, repatriation, and the founding of Liberia. As a group of people who love Liberia and whose love extends to the preservation of its history, arts and culture, we are excited that this government seeks to recognize this important location and establish a permanent monument in its honor. We believe sites like Providence Island deserve to be remembered and protected for our future generations. 

We write to you, however, because we are concerned that the current plan for the development of Providence Island does not do this history justice, nor is it approaching this history with the care and rigor that Liberians deserve. We therefore join other concerned Liberians, including Liberian historian Dr. C. Patrick Burrowes and the Liberian Institute of Architects, in expressing our reservations about the proposed project and the historical narrative being formed around it.

In Dr. C. Patrick Burrowes’ statement, he raises important questions about whether the account being used to understand Providence Island, which identifies it as a site of a Poro initiation school and conflict between Indigenous and repatriated ancestors, accurately reflects the available evidence and fully accounts for its significance to Liberia’s history. In contrast, Burrowes’ findings rely upon established research that shows Providence Island was a slave barracoon before becoming home to repatriated Africans who worked with a multi-ethnic group of Indigenous Liberians to put an end to the Atlantic slave trade along what became the Liberian coast.

Given the significance of this history, we believe it is imperative that any monument erected be done so with accuracy and care for what the evidence suggests. We agree with the Institute of Liberian Architects that even a “well-intentioned project can still cause permanent harm” if not done right.

We therefore call on the Government of Liberia to do the following:

1. Pause development at Providence Island.
2. Undertake an independent historical review that makes its evidence and sources public before permanent structures and memorial narratives are established. 
3. Consult broadly with Liberians, including traditional communities, historians, universities, civil society and the Liberian diaspora through accessible townhalls and palava hut dialogues.
4. Ensure that the final site tells the history of Providence Island truthfully and to the fullest extent possible, including the experiences of the Africans stolen into slavery, Africans that gained their freedom, indigenous Africans, African repatriates, and the many others whose histories converged at this site.

As Dr. Burrowes writes, “By properly memorializing Providence Island, we will be offering a solemn libation to the memory of those ancestors who were kidnapped in the interior and imprisoned in the middle of the Mesurado River before being sold to foreign slave buyers. We will sanctify the island’s role as the Door of Return through which refugees from grueling oppression in the Americas found freedom on the continent of their ancestry. We will honor all of our nation’s founders, including visionary indigenous rulers of the Cape Mesurado region who provided land for what became Liberia and those ancestors of various ethnicities who spilled their blood to liberate our coastline from the rapacious trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.” 

We believe when this work is done, it will ensure that Providence Island is developed as a  heritage site; with preservation and historical integrity at its core. We believe it can be a site of remembrance, learning, connection and healing for us Liberians and the entire African diaspora

Initial Signatories,

Bilphena Decontee Yahwon 

Dr. Elijah Zehyoue

Dr. C. Patrick Burrowes 

Dr. Essah Cozett Diaz

Dr. Zuleka R. Dauda 

Imari Sekajipo