Plenyono Gbe Wolo personal archive

The Plenyono Gbe Wolo personal archive contains letters, photographs, notes, and newspapers dating from 1913 to 1941 documenting Wolo’s life and experiences as a Black international student in the United States including his specific activities at Harvard; Christian missionary networks; and education and politics in Liberia during the early 20th century. The collection primarily contains letters written by Wolo to his friend and benefactor Emeline Fletcher Dickerson during his time in the United States as a student at Harvard and his later return to Liberia.

Letters from Wolo to Emeline Fletcher Dickerson between 1914 and May 1917 document Wolo’s education, part-time work, and social life at Harvard. Wolo discusses money and items received from benefactors, expenses, performance on examinations, and attending church, sermons, and events. He also discusses difficulties finding work, corresponding with other Kru in the United States (Ko Wle Gbi Donma), meeting personal benefactors and members of the Christian community, and homesickness. Wolo worked part-time as a waiter at the Harvard Union and Foxcroft dining hall. He discusses his difficulty in relating to the Harvard Union full-time waitstaff and the stress the additional work put on him. In one letter Wolo discusses Liberian prince Samuel Kaboo Morris and the impossibility of Morris being Kru. Wolo’s presence at Harvard caught the media’s attention as illustrated by an article clipping from an unidentified newspaper. The collection also includes two Harvard graduation portrait photographs of Wolo.

Letters from Wolo to Dickerson between October 1917 and 1922 document Wolo’s education at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. Wolo discusses lectures he attended, travels within the United States, his health, and studies. Letters from 1919 detail Wolo’s meeting with Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell to ask for assistance in contacting the United States Department of State about improving relations between Americo-Liberians and the native people of Liberia. Wolo comments on traveling to Washington D.C in April 1919 to meet Assistant United States Secretary of State William Phillips about the issue; a memo from Wolo to Phillips outlines his concerns. The collection also includes a letter from Wolo to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts about the ratification of a loan to Liberia.

Letters from Wolo's friend and benefactor Professor Reverend George Alexander Johnston Ross to his colleagues, including Dickerson, often negotiate funding and material supplies for Wolo's travel and living expenses in the United States and Wolo's later return to Grand Cess, Liberia, where he organized a day school. Budgets from Dickerson and Ross’s wife, Caroline, detail monetary amounts and supplies sent to Wolo. Wolo’s tendency to give away his funds to fellow Africans in the United States was a source of frustration among his benefactors.

Letters from Wolo to Dickerson after his return to Liberia in 1922 document Wolo’s attempt to create a day school in Grand Cess and his involvement in Liberian politics. Wolo discusses tension between him and the Roman Catholic Church who already ran a school in the area, disagreements between the Kru chief and the central government, and a conversation with Liberia president Charles D. B. King about a loan from the United States. In 1930 the Liberian government was accused of using native Liberians as slaves. Wolo served on the international commission of inquiry that investigated the case and discusses his displeasure with how the investigation was handled.

Writings by Wolo include his comments on the report “Education in Africa” by Thomas Jesse Jones, an essay on Christianity, and a brief autobiography.