Charles Young was sent by the U.S. military to the West African country of Liberia because of U.S. concerns that Liberian independence was at risk from European interest, especially those of the British, French and Germans. In addition, there was unrest in the country from the indigenous African population. The Republic of Liberia was founded as an independent nation in 1821, with the support of the American government, as a place for the resettlement of free-born individuals and also former slaves.

At the turn-of-the-century, President Taft was interested in helping to secure Liberia from outside European threats because of the country's many natural untapped resources, such as coffee and rubber, so American troops were sent there.

At first, the Americans sent as the troop's commander and military attaché to Liberia - First Lieutenant Benjamin O. Davis (Sr.) - a noncommissioned officer and protégé of Young. Davis had been mentored by Young before taking the competitive exam to become a noncommissioned officer. However, Davis' stay in Liberia was cut short in 1911 due to sever attacks of malaria, then called "blackwater fever."

Young took Davis' place as Military Attaché, arriving with his wife Ada in May of 1912.

Following this page, you will view a video show that contains the rare photographs of Africa taken by Charles Young while he was on assignment. The photographs are rare because few African Americans were able to travel to Africa during his era. Please note that I reproduced these photos in both of my folio etchings on Africa: "Military Attaché - Liberia" and "Africa at Dawn".

The video show is also a tribute to Young's wife Ada because I have used Ada's soliloquy from my dramatization about Young's military career as a voice-over on the video. The music during the video show is "Kora" music either played by a "Jaliba" or "Jali". A "Jaliba" is a traditional Mandinka historian, who is often called a "Griot" by the French. The Kora is a beautifully melodic-sounding, traditional, twenty-one stringed, African instrument.

The music that I used in the video-show is in tribute to Jali Nyama Suso who was the Jali for my Sanneh family in Gambia who sang the praises of my children's paternal grand father, Morro Sanneh; my father-in-law who showed my work on Colonel Young to all of his friends in the Gambia when I first visited Africa with my family in the '70s.