Paul Cuffe - Early life, Political activity, Return to Africa movement

Seaman and reformer, born in Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts, USA. His father was of African descent, and his mother was a Native American. While a seaman, he and his brother John Cuffe appealed to the courts of Massachusetts to consider why those denied suffrage had to pay taxes (1780). Although unsuccessful at the time, their concerns were reflected in the act of 1783 by which African-Americans acquired legal rights and privileges in Massachusetts. Through a series of successful voyages, he became ship and property owner (1806), settling on the Westport R, where he built a public schoolhouse and served as a minister among the Quakers. He founded the Friendly Society and led a voyage to help 38 African-Americans emigrate to Sierra Leone (1815), but died before he could make a second trip.

Paul Cuffe and his brother Joseph were among seven Massachusetts freemen (blacks), who, in 1779, refused to pay taxes for three years based on the fact that they could not vote and thus were not represented. The Cuffe brothers were jailed in 1780 for tax evasion, but their petition to the state legislature made lawmakers extend suffrage to taxpaying free blacks in that state.

Early life

Paul Cuffe (1759—September 9, 1817) was born free on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, the youngest of ten children. His father, Kofi (also known as Cuffe Slocum), was a member of the West African Ashanti tribe who had been captured and brought to America as a slave at the age of 10.

Cuffe's father died when he was a teenager.

At the age of 16, Paul Cuffe signed on a whaling ship and later on cargo ships, where he learned navigation. This subsequently developed into a fleet of merchant vessels and a shipyard, and Cuffe became one of the wealthiest men in America.

Political activity

In 1780 he petitioned the council of Bristol County to end taxation without representation. The petition was denied, but it was one of the influences that led the Legislature to grant voting rights to free male citizens of the state in 1783.

Return to Africa movement

In 1811 Cuffe sailed with an all-black crew to investigate the English colony of Sierra Leone, where British abolitionists and American Quakers had begun settling freed slaves.