Lesson 195:
Paul Cuffe
An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted on 07/17/2025
Continuing with the theme of Black Americans from the mid-1770's who definitely aren't talked about enough: today we examine the fascinating life of early Colonial-era businessman Paul Cuffe (sometimes also listed as Cuffee). Born free in 1759 Gosnold, Massachusetts (specifically Cuttyhunk Island), Paul's mother Ruth was in fact Native American (Wampanoag), but his father Kofi was himself enslaved, having been brought over to Massachusetts from West Africa as a child. Kofi had been able to earn his freedom as a skilled tradesman, and Paul, their youngest child, ultimately took his own surname Cuffe for himself as a variation on his father's first name. During the years of the Revolution, Paul made use of his evangelical talents (he was a devout Quaker) and capitalized on the popular "no taxation without representation" sentiment, eventually delivering a petition to the still-coalescing Massachusetts colonial/state legislature demanding that it either grant Black and Native Americans full voting rights --or to cease taxing them altogether. This proposal of course failed in 1780, but its underlying language persisted and eventually found its way into the state constitution in 1783, granting free Black men the right to vote.
Cuffe's reputation (and his church connections) put him in touch with a great many other emancipated Black Americans, and he eventually accumulated enough capital to first found one of the very first racially integrated schools in the U.S., then a smallpox hospital, acquired additional coastal properties, and then to donate handsomely to other educational institutions. In the waning years of the Revolution, his interests had turned to seafaring, and after a short stint as a whaling ship captain, he eventually built one --and then multiple-- merchant ships. By 1811, at the still-relatively young age of 52, he was quite literally the wealthiest Black man in America (telling, as there are actual paintings of his likeness from the time, such as the portrait by Chester Harding that I use as the basis for my illustration), running multiple shipping businesses all up and down the East Coast and as far south as the West Indies; employing hundreds, and continuing to make generous philanthropic donations, including the construction of the Westport Friends Meeting House (which still stands today).
However Cuffe had also become frustrated with the snails' pace of progress for enslaved Black Americans and rather than continue to push for abolition, he began to seriously explore the idea of repatriation --that is to say, resettlement. His earlier seafaring role had taken him to Sierra Leone on multiple occasions, and in 1811 he financed and launched his own expedition there, sailing with an all-African, all-free crew to Freetown, and establishing connections with an eye towards encouraging a larger-scale emigration; enabling greater trade (and improved education) in West Africa. In 1812 Cuffe was welcomed to the national capital by President James Madison and Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin --the White House's very first Black guest. Madison, himself a proponent of recolonization, had intended to make use of Cuffe's expertise but the War of 1812 interrupted any further potential progress. Another voyage in 1815 further solidified Cuffe's project, but the following year his efforts were eclipsed by a much larger and better-funded project: the American Colonization Society (ACS), which would ultimately lead to the founding of Liberia. (You know, the place where they speak English unusually well.) While Cuffe himself opted not to support the ACS, his efforts nonetheless mark a significant shift in public sentiment, and it may be argued that the "Back To Africa" movement began with him.
Why have we never heard about this man? "Because he blows up the Helplessness Narrative; the idea that all Black people were powerless before emancipation. Cuffe knew that freedom was about more than status; it was about access. It wasn't about abandoning the U.S.; it was about expanding what freedom could look like." (You following Ashley The Baroness, by the way? Well, you should be.)
For further study: Paul Cuffe's Revolutionary American Life and Legacy, The Saturday Evening Post, May 20, 2024.
Next lesson - Lesson 196: James Somerset
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