George Henry Andrews

Who was George Henry Andrews?

George Henry Andrews, former Liberian sports journalist and later minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs of Liberia. He presided over a pivotal election in the 1990s.

Andrews was born in Cape Palmas, Liberia in 1926., His father, Lawrence Andrews, had impregnated a native girl and felt too ashamed to admit being the father of the child. Lawrence condemned the girl as a liar and left the area. He would not see his son again for nearly 40 years. Andrews grew up in abject poverty, but as a descendant of Americo-Liberian, being fair skinned through the blood of his father, he managed to use the perceived social status to get a scholarship to high school.

Andrews excelled in school. Perhaps because he felt the need to nullify his father's complete rejection, he pushed himself and was valedictorian of every academic class he ever entered. His mother died in 1941 and he later said he was ashamed because part of him had always been embarrassed by the fact that his mother was an uneducated member of the ethnic and social underclass. In 1945 Andrews entered journalism school and graduated to become Liberia's most popular sports announcer.