Ellen Johnson Sirleaf born Ellen Eugenia Johnson , 29 October is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from to Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gola father and Kru -German mother. She was educated at the College of West Africa. In , she received a cabinet appointment as Minister of Finance, serving to She worked for Citibank and then the Equator Bank.
She returned to Liberia to contest a senatorial seat for Montserrado County in , an election that was disputed. She was arrested as a result of her open criticism of the military government in and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, although she was later released.
She finished in second place at the presidential election , which was won by Charles Taylor. She won the presidential election and took office on 16 January She was re-elected in She was the first woman in Africa elected as president of her country. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in , in recognition of her efforts to bring women into the peacekeeping process. She has received numerous other awards for her leadership. In June , Sirleaf was elected as the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States , making her the first woman to hold the position since it was created.
Sirleaf's father was Gola and her mother had mixed Kru and German ancestry. While not in fact Americo-Liberian in terms of ancestry, because of her parents' upbringing and her own education in the West, Sirleaf is considered to be culturally Americo-Liberian, or assumed to be Americo-Liberian. Her parents both grew up in Monrovia, a center of Americo-Liberian influence, after being born in poor rural areas.
