African American Officers in Liberia; A Pestiferous Rotation, 1910-1942

Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books (an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press), 2018. presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. Very good. xxvii, [3], 271, [2] pages. Illustrations. Chronology. Appendix (biographies of African Americans who served in Liberia, 1910-1942). Notes. Bibliography. Index. Publisher's ephemera laid in. Brian Shellum is a historian with a focus on the Buffalo Soldiers, military attachés, and military intelligence history. He retired from government service in 2015 after serving as a senior intelligence officer with with the Department of Defense. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1994. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a graduate degree from Campbell University. Brian Shellum's publications at the Defense Intelligence Agency include Defense Intelligence Support in the Gulf War: A Chronology (1997), At the Creation, 1961-1965: Origination Documents of the Defense Intelligence Agency (2002). His third book titled African American Officers in Liberia: A Pestiferous Rotation, 1910-1942 was released by the University of Nebraska Press in August 2018. This is the story of seventeen African American officers who trained, reorganized, and commanded the Liberian Frontier Force from 1910 to 1942. In this West African country founded by freed black American slaves, African American officers performed their duties for a country that was, at best, ambivalent about having them serve under arms at home and abroad. The United States extended its newfound imperial reach and policy of "Dollar Diplomacy" to Liberia, a country it considered a U.S. protectorate. Brian G. Shellum explores U.S. foreign policy toward Liberia and the African American diaspora, while detailing the African American military experience in the first half of the twentieth century. Shellum brings to life the story of the African American officers who carried out a dangerous mission in Liberia for an American government that did not treat them as equal citizens in their homeland, and he provides recognition for their critical role in preserving the independence of Liberia.