James M. Priest

Who was James M. Priest?

James M. Priest was Vice President of Liberia from 1864 to 1868 under President Daniel Bashiel Warner. He was born a slave in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Prior to the death of slaveowner Jane Anderson Meaux, she educated and freed Priest and sent him to Liberia to evaluate the situation of former slaves living in Liberia. He returned to the U.S. and received more education and became a Presbyterian missionary. In 1843, he emigrated to Liberia under the auspices of the American Colonization Society.

He later became a justice of the Liberian Supreme Court.