Provides a general profile of the Liberian community in the United States, which includes refugees who were resettled in the years immediately after civil war broke out in Liberia (in 1989) as well as more recent arrivals, who had spent years in refugee camps and been denied opportunities for schooling. Resettlement and social workers get basic information about: (1) Liberia’s relatively small but ethnically diverse population; (2) the history of Liberia, before and after the founding of the modern state by freed American slaves, as well as Liberia’s political institutions and most influential leaders; (3) the experience of Liberian refugees in the West African countries of Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Ghana; (4) post-civil war life in Liberia, including the economy, social institutions, religion and values, food, festivities, clothing, and music and dance; (5) education and literacy, including reasons for educational inequalities; (6) indigenous languages and varieties of spoken Liberian English; and(7) adjustment difficulties concerning education, employment, and housing, family and parenting issues, and health and legal issues. Liberian refugees in the U.S. are expected to be able to survive the challenges of resettlement, rebuild their lives, and contribute to their communities.
