Founded in the 1820s by the American Colonization Society as an African refuge for former American slaves, Liberia in the late 1800s received more emigrants from Arkansas than from any other state. Barnes explains why the back-to-Africa movement was so strong in Arkansas and how Africa figured in the thinking of poor black farmers of the rural South. Founded in the 1820s by the American Colonization Society as an African refuge for former American slaves, Liberia in the late 1800s received more emigrants from Arkansas than from any other state. Barnes explains why the back-to-Africa movement was so strong in Arkansas and how Africa figured in the thinking of poor black farmers of the rural South.