Forty-five years after their execution, the memory of President William R. Tolbert, Jr. and thirteen senior officials of his government was solemnly honored during a moving memorial ceremony held on Tuesday, April 22, by the April 22nd Memorial Group.
The commemoration took place at the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary in Paynesville, where family members, friends, and well-wishers gathered to reflect on the profound loss and national trauma stemming from the events of April 1980.
President Tolbert, who led Liberia from 1971 until the military coup in 1980, was assassinated in the Executive Mansion by mutinous soldiers. Shortly thereafter, thirteen of his top officials and presidential guards were publicly executed, marking a harrowing chapter in Liberia’s history and ushering in decades of political instability and civil unrest.
Tuesday’s memorial included symbolic acts of remembrance, tree plantings, memorial poles, and a solemn roll call of the fallen, demonstrating the deeply personal grief of the families and the lasting national impact of their deaths.
Delivering stirring remarks, Cllr. Yvette Chesson-Wureh, a leading member of the April 22nd Memorial Group, acknowledged the enduring pain that still grips the victims’ families.
“We remember not just public figures, but our fathers, brothers, uncles, and men who meant the world to us,” she said. “Those 13 men on the poles were simply ‘daddy’ to many of us.”
Chesson-Wureh also announced that construction is underway for a permanent mausoleum and memorial library on the seminary grounds, envisioned as a space for reflection, healing, and education. Completion is anticipated in 2026.
She placed the memorial within a broader historical context, noting how Liberia has changed over the decades from the brutality of civil wars and the devastation of the Ebola epidemic to moments of hope such as the election of Africa’s first female president. Yet, she emphasized, the wounds of April 22, 1980, remain unhealed.
“The trauma didn’t end with the executions,” she said. “Families were shattered, lives uprooted, and many of us became refugees, scattered across the globe. But those men, our fathers, chose to serve Liberia when they could have walked away.”
In addressing the political underpinnings of the coup, Chesson-Wureh challenged the popular narrative that it was a tribal revolt. Instead, she described it as a class struggle that unjustly targeted the ruling elite.
“The execution of those men was a violation of Liberian law,” she stressed. “Their deaths must not be in vain. We must uphold justice, the rule of law, and the sanctity of human life.”
She ended her message with a passionate call for forgiveness, remembrance, national renewal.
“Our lineage will forgive, but we will not forget,” she declared. “Let us use this grievous day to reflect, to learn, and to govern differently for the betterment of Liberia.”
The April 22 memorial served not only as a solemn tribute to the fallen but also as a national moment for introspection, healing, and a reaffirmation of Liberia’s commitment to justice and unity.
The April 22 Memorial Group had exhumed the remains of the late President Tolbert and those previously interred with him at the Palm Grove Cemetery in central Monrovia. The Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary has designated a plot for their final resting place, in honor of Tolbert’s service to the church. The reinterment ceremony is set for July 1, 2025.
