Americo-Liberian
Americo-Liberian people or Congo people or Congau people in Liberian English,Cooper, Helene, ''The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood'' (United States: Simon and Schuster, 2008), p. 6 are a Liberian ethnic group of Afric ...
political journalist and dissident who was the editor of the ''Crozerville Observer''. In 1946, he became the first Liberian journalist to be imprisoned by President
William Tubman
William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman (29 November 1895 – 23 July 1971) was a Liberian politician. He was the 19th president of Liberia and the longest-serving president in the country's history, serving from his election in 1944 until his death ...
Barbadians
Barbadians or Bajans
(pronounced ) are people who are identified with the country of Barbados, by being citizens or their descendants in the Barbadian diaspora. The connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Barba ...
who emigrated to Liberia in 1865, Porte was born on January 16, 1906, in Crozerville, Liberia. The Porte family is from Barbados. He was educated at the Christ Church Parish Day School in Crozerville, the
College of West Africa
The College of West Africa is a Methodist high school in Monrovia, Liberia. The school was opened in 1839 (as the "Monrovia Seminary"), making it one of the oldest European-style schools in Africa. It has produced many of Liberia's leaders. Alumn ...
in
Monrovia
Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...
, and Cuttington University College.
Before his political journalism career, Porte was a public school teacher. He later served as executive secretary of the National Teachers Association, and edited the NTA Bulletin.
Porte's political activist career began in the 1920s when he distributed pamphlets that took the
True Whig Party
The True Whig Party (TWP), also known as the Liberian Whig Party (LWP), is the oldest political party in Liberia and one of the oldest parties in Africa. Founded in 1869 by primarily darker-skinned Americo-Liberians in rural areas, its historic ...
single-party-state government to task for alleged unconstitutional use of presidential power.
He published articles in the ''Crozerville Observer'', as well as other Liberian print media and foreign press. His most famous publications are the leaflets and pamphlets ''Thinking about Unthinkable Things—The Democratic Way'' (1967), ''Liberianization or Gobbling Business?'' (1975), ''Explaining Why'' (1976), ''Thoughts on Change'' (1977) and ''The Day Monrovia Stood Still'' (1979). Porte was imprisoned multiple times, and harassed and hounded by the government from the 1920s.
In the 1970s, Porte took aim at Finance Minister Stephen Allen Tolbert, the brother of President
William Tolbert
William Richard Tolbert Jr. (13 May 1913 – 12 April 1980) was a Liberian politician who served as the 20th president of Liberia from 1971 until 1980.
Tolbert was an Americo-Liberian and trained as a civil servant before entering the House of ...
and co-founder of the first Liberian-owned multimillion-dollar conglomerate, the Mesurado Group of Companies. He accused the minister of using his public office stature to advance his business interests, penning a piece called "Liberianization of Gobbling Business?" Minister Tolbert filed a libel lawsuit and won a US$250,000 judgment against Porte in a case presided over by Supreme Court Justice James A. A. Pierre, the father-in-law of Minister Tolbert. The resulting public outrage led to the creation of what is considered Liberia's first civil society organization, Citizens of Liberia in Defense of Albert Porte (COLIDAP).
Porte died in 1986. On July 24, 2008, Porte posthumously received the Knight Great Band
Humane Order of African Redemption
The Humane Order of African Redemption, an order presented by the government of Liberia, was founded on January 13, 1879 during the presidency of Anthony W. Gardiner. It is awarded for humanitarian work in Liberia, for acts supporting and assist ...
award from the Liberian government for his contributions to Liberia.
He was the uncle of Kenneth Best, the founder of the ''Liberian Observer'', one of the oldest extant daily newspapers in Liberia.