1832, August 3
Born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
1842-1844
Family lives in Porto Bello, Venezuela
1850 May
Visits US and attempts to enroll in Theological College but is rejected.
1850 December
Emigrates to Liberia
1851 October
Enrolls at Alexander High School, Monrovia
1855-1856
Editor Liberia Herald
1856
Publishes A Voice From Bleeding Africa, the first of many pamphlets
1858
Ordained as a Presbyterian clergyman and becomes Principal of Alexander High School.
1861
Liberian Commissioner to Britain and the United States.
1862
Liberian Commissioner to the United States to invite Negroes "back to the Fatherland".
1862-1871
Professor of Classics at Liberia College.
1864-1866
Secretary of State of Liberia
1866 July-September
Visits Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.
1872-1873
Founder and Editor of The Negro newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Government Agent of the Interior.
1875-1877
Principal of Alexander High School at Harrisburg, Liberia.
1877-1880
Liberian Ambassador to the Court of St. James, London, United Kingdom.
1880-1884
President of Liberia College, and concurrently Minister of the Interior until 1882.
1885
Unsuccessful Liberian Presidential candidate; emigrates to Sierra Leone.
1886 September
Resigns from the Presbyterian Church to become `Minister of Truth'.
1887
First publication of Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race.
1889/90 August-March
Seventh visit to the USA; two month tour of the "Deep South".
1890/91 December-Jan
First visit to Lagos.
1892
Liberian Ambassador to Court of St. James, United Kingdom.
1894 April-July
Second visit to Lagos, Nigeria.
1895 July-September
Eighth and last visit to USA.
1896-1897
Agent of Native Affairs, Lagos, Nigeria.
1898-1899
Teacher, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
1900-1901
Professor at Liberia College.
1901-1906
Director of Mohammedan Education in Sierra Leone.
1905 June-September
Liberian Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to United Kingdom and France.
1906-1912
Retirement in Freetown Sierra Leone.
1912 February 7
Died in Freetown and buried at the Race Course Cemetery.
This outline was originally compiled by Jennifer Ryan of the Caribbean Radio Network for a radio series on the life of EWB.