Statecraft & Independence
Landmark
Samuel Doe
1951 – 1990
Ended 133 years of Americo-Liberian rule, and then ruled by force
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Liberia Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
A master sergeant who overthrew the settler republic in 1980 — the first Liberian of indigenous descent ever to lead the country, closing 133 years of Americo-Liberian domination. What followed was a decade of repression that ended in civil war.
Samuel Kanyon Doe, of the Krahn, was a master sergeant in the Armed Forces of Liberia when he led the coup of 12 April 1980 that overthrew President William Tolbert.
In doing so he ended one hundred and thirty-three years of rule by the Americo-Liberian settler elite and became the first head of state drawn from Liberia's indigenous majority — the single largest rupture in the country's political history, and the answer to a grievance men like Didwho Twe had spent their lives arguing. He ruled through the 1980s and was captured, tortured and killed in 1990 during the first Liberian civil war.
In doing so he ended one hundred and thirty-three years of rule by the Americo-Liberian settler elite and became the first head of state drawn from Liberia's indigenous majority — the single largest rupture in the country's political history, and the answer to a grievance men like Didwho Twe had spent their lives arguing. He ruled through the 1980s and was captured, tortured and killed in 1990 during the first Liberian civil war.
- Britannica — Samuel K. Doe
- Wikipedia — 1980 Liberian coup d'état
- African Arguments — 25 years after his demise, Samuel Doe continues to cast a long shadow across Liberian politics
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