EVERY 14 MAY is National Unification Day in Liberia. The holiday is also sometimes referred to as “Integration Day”. The purpose of the holiday was to seek improved relations between the descendants of former slaves who were now freed men and women, who ‘colonized’ Liberia and the original native population.
IN 1822, LIBERIA became a US colonial possession in Africa, obtained for the purpose of allowing liberated black slaves to return, if they wished, to the continent of their ancestors. As soon as 1847, Liberia became an independent nation. The “Americo-Liberians”, however, became an elite ruling class that practiced segregation against the “native Liberians”.
FINALLY, LIBERIAN PRESIDENT William Tubman ended the segregation and granted voting rights to all Liberians in 1944. This was a policy to bring national unity and integration. National Unification Day was declared a public holiday in Liberia in 1960 to honor the historic change brought about by President Tubman.
DESPITE THE PROGRESS that was made, there were back-to-back civil wars in Liberia in the 1990’s and early 2000’s related to the ethnic and historic divide. But National Unification Day at least provides an opportunity to stress the need for the nation to unite further and to celebrate the progress that has already been achieved.
TODAY, MAY 14, 2025 marks 65 years since May 14 was declared National Unification Day as a public holiday by President William V. S. Tubman with the approval of Legislative enactment. It was a day set aside not for mere celebration, but for deep reflection, honest reckoning, and collective recommitment to the ideals of unity, reconciliation, and national progress.
HAS LIBERIA, AS a country and Liberians as people, been able to genuinely reconcile and unite as one people and one country void of ethnic division and hate? On a general note, we at The Liberian Post say NO, judging from series of catastrophic events that tainted the image of a nation founded on Christian principles.
AS LIBERIANS CELEBRATE this milestone, they must confront a difficult question. What is holding Liberians back from genuinely and truly unifying as President Tubman had envisaged when he proclaimed National Unification Day as public holiday?
WHAT CAN LIBERIANS attribute to as the reasons they have never truly unified as one people and a country? Can it be politics, ethnicity, religion, segregation, mistrust, greed, among others? Can we also say that Liberians have allowed old wounds to haunt them for new division to take root and threatens the unification that President Tubman had hoped for?
LET US BE reminded that 29 years after National Unification Day was proclaimed as public holiday (December 1989), Liberia was engulfed into a brutal and barbaric civil upheaval that tore every fabric of the Liberian society and the depth of the nation.
THAT 1989 WAR and other subsequent civil wars did not explode in blankness. It was powered by division-by years of downgrading, segregation, disparity, and a failure to embrace the spirit of unity we claimed to celebrate. Liberians must come to terms with this truth: It is not enough to proclaim unity. It is not enough to commemorate Unification Day. It is not even enough to celebrate it.
JUST QUITE RECENTLY, the House of Representatives in the 55th Legislature was engulfed in a leadership crisis the plunged the House on its knees thereby including the other branches of government. Members of that August body failed to unite in one purpose for the benefits of the people they represent, but rather sought self-interests for the last eight months with nothing to show that Liberia and its people gained. They must set example by burying their hatches, reconcile and work together as one body for the betterment and growth of the country.
AS LIBERIANS CELEBRATE this National Unification Day, unification must be realized. It must be lived and practiced daily-intentionally and decently. Liberia’s past has been throbbing and overwhelming, but its future can be different. Only in unity can Liberia truly prosper. Only when every Liberian-regardless of tribe, religion, region, or political affiliation-feels valued, heard, and included, can they claim to have honored the meaning of this day.
LET THIS 65TH Unification Day be a revolving point. A true awakening and a national call to action. Let Liberians use their churches and mosques, schools and universities, community halls, media platforms, and every other institution to promote unity-not just in words, but in deeds. Let the leaders of the land lead with justice and fairness. Let the communities reject division and hatred. Let every Liberian become an ambassador for peace, tolerance, and togetherness.
LIBERIA MUST REMAIN the ultimate objective, aside from any tribe, region and group. Liberia must and should always remain one nation, one people with one destiny as a country, bearing in mind what President Tubman had dreamed and hoped when he declared National Unification Day as a public holiday.
THE PEOPLE OF Liberia owe it to those who died in the country’s past conflicts. Liberia and Liberians owe it to the next generation of Liberians. Liberians owe it to themselves. Unification is not a dream, it is a choice, a decision, a path that every Liberian must walk together to nobler height with God being above and their rights to prove.
LET THIS MAY 14, 2025 National Unification Day be the beginning of new hope and aspiration for Liberians to recognize that national unity, togetherness, oneness in purpose and love for all is the bedrock upon which the nation will thrive in prosperity, growth and development as President Tubman envisaged when he declared May 14 in 1960, National Unification Day as a public holiday for Liberians to be one in God’s image. Happy Unification Day.
