After completing her education in the United States, she returned to Liberia in 1946, making significant contributions to the cultural and social life of the country.

Born into a family of African royalty, Massaquoi grew up in the care of an aunt in Njagbacca, in the Garwula District of Grand Cape Mount County of southern Liberia.

She co-founded the Society of Liberian Authors, helped abolish the practice of usurping African names for Westernized versions, and worked towards standardization of the Vai script.

[8] Massaquoi spent her first seven years with her father's sister, Mama Jassa, in Njagbacca in the Garwula District of Grand Cape Mount County.

[9] On the recommendation of the consulate's housekeeper, Gertrude von Bobers, to whom she became very attached, in 1932 she spent some time in Geneva, Switzerland, where she learnt French at the École Supérieure et Secondaire.

[18] Being part of the first black diplomatic family in Germany had always been challenging,[19] but with the rise of the Nazi regime, Massaquoi's father began fearing for her safety.

[24] She taught French and German at Fisk and also paid her way by giving instruction in African and European folk dancing, as well as teaching the violin, thanks to her own competence on the instrument.

[14][27] Upon the invitation of President William Tubman, Massaquoi returned to Liberia on 13 October 1946 to help him establish a university in Monrovia.

[29] During her term at the university, Massaquoi succeeded in overcoming the requirement that students should adopt foreign names rather than keeping those of their indigenous families.

In connection with this, when she married Ernest Freeman on 26 July 1948, Massaquoi adopted his tribal name Fahnbulleh, calling herself Fatima Massaquoi-Fahnbulleh.

[30] To further contribute to the cultural and social development of Liberia, she organized a seminar through the African Studies Program in 1962 to promote the standardization of the Vai script.

This pressed Seton into having the 700 pages of her mother's unpublished autobiography microfilmed, calling on the assistance of colleagues at the University of Liberia.

First, its down-to-heart and honest account of even the most disturbing personal experiences…Second the larger canvas of Sierra Leonean and Liberian cultural and ethno-linguistic history in which Fatima's story is told.

Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman, who up to that time was the only woman to have served anywhere in Africa as a university president, proclaimed, "Hers was a life of dedication to the Liberian nation and to the cause of education.