For the Episcopalian Reverend missionary, see Paul Cuffee (1754-1812).
Paul Cuffee was a Christian minister, missionary, and preacher. A Native American of the Shinnecock tribe, Cuffee became a Christian and was baptized as a young adult. He was ordained as a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in his late twenties and began to work as a missionary for New York Missionary Society among the native peoples of Long Island, New York, where he worked for the survival of the local tribes, and became known as powerful preacher and a strong advocate for the native peoples of Long Island, to whom he became known as "Priest Paul." He also was a tireless advocate of his people among the non-native majority. He also spoke against slavery and was mentioned in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Paul Cuffee or Paul Cuffe (January 17, 1759 – September 7, 1817) was born free into a multiracial Quaker family on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts. He became a businessman, sea captain, and abolitionist. His mother was AquinnahWampanoag and his father Ashanti, captured as a child in West Africa and sold into slavery to New England. In the mid-1740s the father was freed by his Quaker master in Massachusetts.
Cuttyhunk Island is the outermost of the Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. A small outpost for the harvesting of sassafras was occupied for a few weeks in 1602, arguably making it the first English settlement in New England. Cuttyhunk is located between Buzzards Bay to the north and Vineyard Sound to the south. Penikese Island and Nashawena Island are located to the north and east respectively.
Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named after the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the east side of the area, and is one of the original thirteen states. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England. Over 80% of Massachusetts's population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.
A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the ship and its people and cargo, including its seaworthiness, safety and security, cargo operations, navigation, crew management, and legal compliance.
After Cuffee's father died when the boy was 13, he and a brother worked to support their mother and three younger sisters. Cuffee eventually built a lucrative shipping empire in New England, trading primarily with Great Britain. He established the first racially integrated school in Westport, Massachusetts.[1]
Westport is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 15,532 at the 2010 census.
A devout Christian, Cuffee often preached and spoke at the Sunday services at the multi-racial Society of Friends meeting house in Westport.[2] In 1813, he donated most of the money to build a new meeting house.
Christians are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words Christ and Christian derive from the Koine Greek title Christós (Χριστός), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ).
A meeting house is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place.
He became involved in the British effort to develop the new colony of Freetown, later Sierra Leone, for free blacks liberated from slavery. Many Black Loyalists had first been granted land by the Crown in Nova Scotia after the American Revolution. Cuffee helped those who wanted to leave to sail to the fledgling colony of Sierra Leone. He also helped support The Friendly Society of Sierra Leone, which provided financial support for the colony.
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre, as it is the seat of the Government of Sierra Leone. The population of Freetown was 1,055,964 at the 2015 census.
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, informally Salone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea to the northeast. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savanna to rainforests, and a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) and a population of 7,075,641 as of the 2015 census. The capital and largest city is Freetown, and the country is divided into five administrative regions, which are further subdivided into sixteen districts.
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime Provinces, and one of the four provinces that form Atlantic Canada. Its provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest of Canada's ten provinces, with an area of 55,284 square kilometres (21,300 sq mi), including Cape Breton and another 3,800 coastal islands. As of 2016, the population was 923,598. Nova Scotia is Canada's second-most-densely populated province, after Prince Edward Island, with 17.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (45/sq mi).
Biography
Early life
Paul Cuffee was born on January 17, 1759, on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts. (This was during the French and Indian War). He was the youngest son of Kofi, known as Cuffee Slocum since being freed, and his wife Ruth Moses. Kofi was a member of the Ashanti, from the Ashanti Region of present-day southern Ghana.[3] He had been captured at age ten and brought as a slave to the English colony of Massachusetts. His Quaker owner, John Slocum, could not reconcile slave ownership with his religious values and freed Kofi in the mid-1740s.
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France, each side supported by military units from the parent country and by American Indian allies. At the start of the war, the French colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 settlers, compared with 2 million in the British colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians.
Ashanti, also known as Asante, are an ethnic group native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. The Asante speak Twi. The language is spoken by over nine million ethnic Asante people as a first or second language. Asante is often assumed to mean "because of wars".
The Ashanti Region is located in south Ghana and is third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 24,389 km2 (9,417 sq mi) or 10.2 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the most populated region with a population of 4,780,380 according to the 2011 census, accounting for 19.4% of Ghana's total population. The Ashanti Region is known for its major gold bar and cocoa production. The largest city and regional capital is Kumasi.
Kofi took the name Cuffee Slocum. In 1746, he married Ruth Moses.[4] She was a member of the Wampanoag Nation on Martha's Vineyard. Cuffee Slocum worked as a skilled carpenter, farmer and fisherman, and taught himself to read and write. He worked diligently in order to buy a home, and in 1766 bought a 116-acre (0.47km2) farm in nearby Dartmouth, Massachusetts.[2] The couple raised ten children together, of whom Paul was the seventh. [5]
During Paul's infancy there was no Quaker meeting house on Cuttyhunk Island, so his father taught himself the Scriptures and also taught his children.[6] In 1766, when Paul was seven, the family moved to the farm in Dartmouth. Cuffee Slocum died in 1772, when Paul was 13. As his two eldest brothers by then had families of their own elsewhere, Paul and his brother John took over their father's farm operations, supporting their mother and three younger sisters.
Around 1778, when he was 19, Paul persuaded his brothers and sisters to use their father's anglicized first name, Cuffee, as their family name, and all but the youngest did.[7] Paul, though, signed his name by spelling it 'Cuffe' with one 'e'.[8] His mother, Ruth Moses, died on January 6, 1787 soon after the end of the Revolutionary War.[9]
Paul Cuffee: marineer
Captain Paul Cuffe engraving in 1812 from a drawing by Dr. John Pele of Bristol, England
At the time of his father's death, young Paul knew little more than the alphabet but dreamed of gaining an education and being involved in the shipping industry. The closest mainland port to Cuttyhunk was New Bedford, Massachusetts—the center of the American whaling industry. Cuffe used his limited free time to learn more about ships and sailing from sailors he encountered. Finally, at the age of 16, Cuffe signed onto a whaling ship and, later on, to cargo ships, where he learned navigation. In his journal, he referred to himself as a marineer. In 1776 during the American Revolution, he was captured and held prisoner-of-war for three months in New York by the British, who had occupied the city.[11] (His descendants are considered eligible by his sacrifice for membership in the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution, lineage societies founded in the late 19th century.)
After his release, Cuffee returned to his siblings in Massachusetts, where he farmed and studied. In 1779, he and his brother David built a small boat to ply the nearby coast and islands.[12] Although his brother was afraid to sail in dangerous seas, Cuffe went out alone in 1779 to deliver cargo to Nantucket. He was waylaid by pirates on this and several subsequent voyages. Finally, he made a trip to Nantucket that turned a profit.[13]
At the age of 21, Cuffe refused to pay taxes because free blacks did not have the right to vote in Massachusetts. In 1780, he petitioned the council of Bristol County, Massachusetts to end such taxation without representation, which had been an issue leading to the Revolution. The petition was denied, but his suit contributed to the state legislature in 1783 granting voting rights to all free male citizens of the state.[14]
Cuffe finally made enough money to purchase another ship and hired crew for it. He gradually built up capital and expanded his ownership to a fleet of ships. After using open boats, he commissioned the 14- or 15-ton closed-deck ship Box Iron, and then an 18- to 20-ton schooner. He eventually operated his own shipyard where some of his ships were constructed.
Marriage and family
On February 25, 1783, Cuffe married Alice Pequit. Like Cuffe's mother, Pequit was a Wampanoag woman.[15] The couple settled in Westport, Massachusetts, where they raised their seven children: Naomi (born 1783), Mary (born 1785), Ruth (1788), Alice (1790), Paul Jr. (1792-1843), Rhoda (1795), and William (1799).[15]
Shipping
In the late 1780s Cuffe's flagship was the 25-ton schooner Sun Fish; his next purchase was the 40-ton schooner Mary. In 1795, he sold the Mary and Sun Fish to finance construction of the Ranger — a 69-ton schooner launched in 1796 from Cuffe's shipyard in Westport.[16] Wanting a larger homestead, in February 1799 he paid $3,500 for 140 acres (0.57km2) of waterfront property in Westport.[17]
By 1800 he had enough capital to purchase a half-interest in the 162-ton barqueHero. By the first years of the nineteenth century, Cuffe was one of the most wealthy — if not the most wealthy — African Americans and Native Americans in the United States.[18] His largest ship, the 268-ton Alpha, was built in 1806, along with his favorite ship, the 109-ton brigTraveller.[19] In 1811 when Cuffe took the Traveller into Liverpool, The Times of London reported that it was likely the first vessel to reach Europe that was "entirely owned and navigated by Negroes".[20]
First venture into Sierra Leone
In the early nineteenth century, most Englishmen and Anglo-Americans believed that people of African descent were inferior to Europeans, even in New England, where residents were predominantly Congregational, Quaker, Methodist and Baptist. The Second Great Awakening, carried primarily by Quakers, Methodists and Baptists from New England to the South, had stimulated some owners to free their slaves after the American Revolutionary War. As slavery continued after the Revolution, primarily in the South, prominent men such as Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison believed the emigration of free Blacks to colonies outside the United States was the easiest and most realistic solution to the race problem in America. It was a means of providing an alternative for free blacks, rather than absorbing a large population of slaves by emancipation.[21]
1732 map of Sierra Leone and the coast of Guinea
Attempts by Europeans and Americans to colonize Blacks in other parts of the world had failed, including the British attempt to colonize Sierra Leone. Beginning in 1787, the Sierra Leone Company sponsored 400 people, mostly known as the Black Poor of London, to resettle in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Many were African Americans who had been freed from slavery by joining British lines during the Revolution and evacuated to England. Freetown struggled to establish a working economy and develop a government that could survive against outside pressures. After the financial collapse of the Sierra Leone Company, a second group, the newly created African Institution, offered migration to a larger group of Black Loyalists who had been resettled in Nova Scotia and London after the American Revolution. The African Institution's London sponsors hoped to gain an economic return while fostering the "civilizing" trades of educated Blacks in Africa.[22]
Although colonizing Sierra Leone was difficult, Cuffe believed it was a viable option for Blacks, and threw his support behind the movement. He wrote,
I have for these many years past felt a lively interest in their behalf, wishing that the inhabitants of the colony might become established in truth, and thereby be instrumental in its promotion amongst our African brethren.[23]
From March 1807 on, Cuffe was encouraged by members of the African Institution in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York City to help the fledgling efforts to improve Sierra Leone. Cuffe mulled over the logistics and chances of success for the movement before deciding in 1809 to join the project. On December 27, 1810, he left Philadelphia on his first expedition to Sierra Leone.[24]
Cuffe reached Freetown, Sierra Leone on March 1, 1811. He traveled the area investigating the social and economic conditions of the region. He met with some of the colony's officials, who opposed his idea for colonization of Blacks from the United States for fear of competition from American merchants.[25] His attempts to sell goods yielded poor results because of tariff charges resulting from the British mercantile system. On Sunday, April 7, 1811 Cuffe met with the foremost Black entrepreneurs of the colony. They wrote a petition for the African Institution, stating that the colony's greatest needs were for settlers to work in agriculture, merchanting and the whaling industry, saying that these three areas would best facilitate growth for the colony. Upon receiving this petition, the members of the institution agreed with their findings.[26] Cuffe and the black entrepreneurs together founded the Friendly Society of Sierra Leone as a mutual-aid merchant group dedicated to furthering prosperity and industry among the free peoples in the colony and loosening the stranglehold that the English merchants held on trade.[27]
Cuffe sailed to Great Britain to secure further aid for the colony, arriving in Liverpool in July 1811. He met with the heads of the African Institution in London who raised some money for the Friendly Society. He was granted governmental permission and license to continue his mission in Sierra Leone.[28] Encouraged by this support, Cuffe returned to Sierra Leone, where he and local merchants solidified the role of the Friendly Society. They refined development plans for the colony by building a grist mill, saw mill, rice-processing factory, and salt works.[29]
Embargo, the President, and the War of 1812
Relations between the United States and Great Britain were strained and, as 1811 ended, the U.S. established an embargo on British goods. This affected trans-Atlantic trade, as well as trade with Canada. When Cuffe reached Newport, Rhode Island in April 1812, his ship the Traveller was seized by U.S. customs agents, along with all its goods. Officials would not release his cargo, so Cuffe went to Washington, D.C. to appeal.[30] He met with Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin and President James Madison. Madison warmly welcomed Cuffe into the White House. Deciding that Cuffe had not intentionally violated the embargo, Madison ordered his cargo returned to him.
Madison also questioned Cuffe about his time in Sierra Leone and conditions there. Eager to learn about Africa, Madison was interested in the possibility of expanding recolonization by American free blacks. But Madison eventually rejected Cuffe's plans, since Sierra Leone was a British colony. The strained diplomatic situation with Britain broke out in the War of 1812. Despite this, Madison regarded Cuffe as the US authority on Africa.[31]
Cuffe intended to return to Sierra Leone regularly, but in June the war started. As a pacifist Quaker, Cuffee opposed the war on spiritual grounds. He also despaired of the interruption of trade and efforts to improve Sierra Leone.[32] As the war between the U.S. and Britain continued, Cuffe tried to convince both countries to ease their restrictions on trading, but was unsuccessful. Like other merchants, he was forced to wait until the war ended.[33]
Meanwhile, Cuffe visited Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, speaking to groups of free Blacks about the colony. Cuffe also urged Blacks to form organizations in these cities, communicate with each other, and correspond with the African Institution and with the Friendly Society at Sierra Leone. He printed a pamphlet about Sierra Leone to inform the general public of his ideas.[34] In the summer of 1813 Cuffee donated money as the largest contributor to rebuilding the Westport Friends' Meeting House.[32]
The war caused Cuffe to lose ships and his business suffered financially. The Hero was declared unseaworthy while in Chile and never returned. John James of Philadelphia, his partner in the Alpha, ran that ship unprofitably.[35] Fortunately the war ended with the Treaty of Ghent at the end of 1814. After getting his finances in order, Cuffee prepared to return to Sierra Leone.
After the war
Cuffe sailed out of Westport on December 10, 1815, with 38 African-American colonists (18 adults and 20 children[36] ranging in age from eight months to 60 years.[37]) The group included William Gwinn and his family from Boston.[38]
The expedition cost Cuffe more than $4000. Passengers paying their own fares, plus a donation by William Rotch of New Bedford, Massachusetts, accounted for the remaining $1000 in expenses.[39] The colonists arrived in Sierra Leone on February 3, 1816. The ship was carrying such supplies as axes, hoes, a plow, a wagon, and parts to make a saw mill. Cuffe and his immigrants were not greeted as warmly as before. Governor MacCarthy was already having trouble keeping the general population in order and was not excited at the idea of more immigrants. In addition, the Militia Act, which had been imposed upon the colony, required all adult males to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown. Many local people refused to do so for fear of being drafted into military service.[40]
Although things did not go exactly as Cuffee had planned economically - his cargo sold at undervalued prices[41] - the new colonists were finally settled in Freetown. Cuffe believed that once continuous trade between the United States, Britain, and Africa commenced, the society would be able to realize his predicted success.[42] For Cuffe, though, the expedition was costly. Each colonist needed a year's provisions to get started, which he had advanced for them. Governor MacCarthy was sure that the African Institution would reimburse Cuffe, but the American suffered more than $8,000 in deficit after having to pay high tariff duties as well.[43] The African Institution in England never contributed to the mission at all, and Cuffe had to deal with hard economic consequences.[44] He knew he needed stronger financial backing before undertaking another such expedition.
Later years
On his return to New York in 1816, Cuffe exhibited to the New York chapter of the African Institution the certificates of the landing of those colonists at Sierra Leone. "He has also received from Gov. M'Carthy a certificate of the steady and sober conduct of the settlers since their arrival, and an acknowledgment of $439.62, humanely advanced to them since they landed, to promote their comfort and advantage."[45]
In 1816, Cuffe envisioned a mass emigration plan for African Americans, both to Sierra Leone and possibly to Haiti, which had gained independence in 1804. This former French colony of Saint-Domingue was located in the Caribbean.[46] Congress rejected his petition to fund another expedition of settlers to Sierra Leone.
During this time period, many African Americans began to demonstrate interest in emigrating to Africa, and some people believed this was the best solution to problems of racial tensions in American society. Cuffe was persuaded by Reverends Samuel J. Mills and Robert Finley to help them with the plans of the American Colonization Society (ACS), formed for this purpose. Cuffe was alarmed at the overt racism of many members of the ACS, who included slaveholders. Certain co-founders, particularly Henry Clay, advocated relocating freed Negroes as a way of ridding the South of potentially "troublesome" agitators who might threaten their slave societies.[47] Other Americans who became active preferred to encourage emigration to Haiti. The government of President Jean-Pierre Boyer encouraged American immigrants, believing they could help develop the country and might help gain formal recognition by the US government of his republic.
Death and legacy
In early 1817, Cuffe's health deteriorated. He never returned to Africa. He died on September 7, 1817. His final words were "Let me pass quietly away." Cuffe left an estate with an estimated value of almost $20,000.[48] His will bequeathed money to his widow, siblings, children, grandchildren, and the Friends Meeting House in Westport.[49] He is buried in the graveyard of the Westport Friends Meetinghouse.
His relatives and descendants intermarried with other families of color in the shipping industry. His sister Mary Cuffee had married Micah Quaben Wainer. Their sons Paul, Michael, Thomas and Jeremiah had accompanied their uncle Paul Sr. on voyages, and bought or inherited interest in Paul Sr.'s ships. Paul Jr. had married Polly Cook in 1812, who was the sister of a black seaman. Alice Cuffee married Polly's brother, Captain Pardon Cook, in 1820. Paul Sr.'s youngest son, William, became a skilled seaman in his own right, captaining the Rising States. He and three other men died on board in November–December 1837 during an accident in the midst of rough weather en route to Cape Verde. [citation needed]
Legacy and honors
Paul Cuffe farm, Westport, Massachusetts today
On January 16, 2009, Congressman Barney Frank inserted extended remarks titled "Paul Cuffe: Voting Rights Pioneer" into the Congressional Record.[50]
Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts issued a proclamation honoring the 200th birthday of Paul Cuffe.[51]
On January 17, 2009, the 258th anniversary of Cuffe's birth, Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts issued a proclamation honoring the 200th anniversary of Paul Cuffe's death (September 7, 2017).[51]
The Flag of Liberia or the Liberian flag bears a close resemblance to the flag of the United States, showing the freed American and Caribbean ex-slaves' offspring and bloodlines the origins of the country.
The Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, commonly known as the American Colonization Society (ACS), was a group established in 1816 by Robert Finley of New Jersey which supported the migration of free African Americans to the continent of Africa. The society in 1821–1822 helped to found a colony on the Pepper Coast of West Africa, as a place for free-born or manumitted American blacks. This was near Sierra Leone, the already existing British colony for former slaves and free blacks.
James Forten was an African -American abolitionist and wealthy businessman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born free in the city, he became a sailmaker after the American Revolutionary War. Following an apprenticeship, he became the foreman and bought the sail loft when his boss retired. Based on equipment he himself had developed, he established a highly profitable business. It was located on the busy waterfront of the Delaware River, in an area now called Penn's Landing.
Samuel Hopkins was an American Congregationalist theologian of the late colonial era of the United States, and from whom the Hopkinsian theology takes its name. He was also an opponent of slavery, saying that it was in the interest and duty of the U.S. to set free all of their slaves.
Sherbro Island is in the Atlantic Ocean, and is included within Bonthe District, Southern Province, Sierra Leone. The island is separated from the African mainland by the Sherbro River in the north and Sherbro Strait in the east. It is 32 miles (51 km) long and up to 15 miles (24 km) wide, covering an area of approximately 230 square miles (600 km2). The western extremity is Cape St. Ann. Bonthe, on the eastern end, is the chief port and commercial centre.
The Sierra Leone Company was the corporate body involved in founding the second British colony in Africa on 11 March 1792 through the resettlement of Black Loyalists who had initially been settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. The company came about because of the work of the ardent abolitionists, Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, Henry Thornton, and Thomas's brother, John Clarkson, who is considered one of the founding fathers of Sierra Leone. The Company was the successor to the St. George Bay Company, a corporate body established in 1790 that re-established Granville Town in 1791 for the 60 remaining Old Settlers.
The Back-to-Africa movement, also known as the Colonization movement, originated in the United States during the 19th century. It encouraged those of African descent to return to the African homelands of their ancestors. This movement would eventually inspire other movements, ranging from the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement and proved to be popular among African Americans.
Thomas Peters, born Thomas Potters, was one of the Black Loyalist "Founding Fathers" of the nation of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Peters, along with David George, Moses Wilkinson, Cato Perkins and Joseph Leonard, were influential Black Canadians, who recruited African settlers in the Province of Nova Scotia for the colonisation of Sierra Leone. Peters was a former African-American slave, who fled the Province of North Carolina with the British during the American Revolutionary War, having served as a Black Loyalist in the Black Company of Pioneers and later becoming a prominent, Black, colonial leader in Freetown. Thomas Peters has been called the "first, African-American hero". Peters, like Elijah Johnson and Joseph Jenkins Roberts of Liberia, is considered the African-American founding father of a nation.
Black Nova Scotians are Black Canadians whose ancestors primarily date back to the Colonial United States as slaves or freemen, and later arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada during the 18th and early 19th centuries. As of the 2016 Census of Canada, 21,915 black people live in Nova Scotia, most in Halifax. Since the 1950s, numerous Black Nova Scotians have migrated to Toronto, Ontario, for its larger range of opportunities. Before the immigration reforms of the 1960s, Black Nova Scotians formed 37% of the total Black Canadian population.
Daniel Coker (1780–1846), born Isaac Wright, was an African American of mixed race from Baltimore, Maryland who gained freedom from slavery and became a Methodist minister. He wrote one of the few pamphlets published in the South protesting slavery and supporting abolition. In 1816 he helped found the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent black denomination in the United States, at its first national convention in Philadelphia.
Edward Jones (1807–1865) was an African American missionary to the colony of Sierra Leone. Jones was a prominent missionary and figure in the colony of Sierra Leone; he was the first naturalized citizen of Sierra Leone. Jones was the first principal of Fourah Bay College. He was the first Black American to graduate from Amherst College in Massachusetts. Edward Jones was the brother of Jehu Jones, a prominent African-American preacher.
In the American Revolution, gaining freedom was the strongest motive for black slaves who joined the Patriot or British armies. The free black may have been drafted or enlisted at his own volition.
Moses "Daddy" Wilkinson or "Old Moses" was an African-American slave and Wesleyan Methodist preacher in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone.
The Nova Scotian Settlers, or Sierra Leone Settlers were Black Britons who founded the settlement of Freetown, Sierra Leone on March 11, 1792. The majority of these black immigrants were among 3000 Blacks who had been in enslaved in North America, who had sought freedom and refuge with the British during the American Revolutionary War, leaving rebel masters. They became known as the Black Loyalists. The Nova Scotian settlers were jointly led by African-American Thomas Peters, a former soldier, and English abolitionist John Clarkson. For most of the 19th century, the Settlers resided in Settler Town and remained a distinct ethnic group within the Freetown territory, tending to marry among themselves and with Europeans in the colony. Indigenous tribes in the region included the Sherbro and Mende.
The Paul Cuffe Farm is a National Historic Landmark on 1504 Drift Road in Westport, Massachusetts. The house was traditionally believed to be owned by Paul Cuffe (1759-1815), a prominent farmer and merchant of African American and Native American ancestry. Cuffe was active in promoting the idea of returning African Americans to Africa, making a voyage to what is now Sierra Leone in 1811 to support a fledgling colony there. The farm was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974.
The African Institution was founded in 1807 after British abolitionists succeeded in ending the slave trade based in the United Kingdom. The Institution was formed to succeed where the former Sierra Leone Company had failed—to create a viable, civilized refuge for freed slaves in Sierra Leone, Africa.
William Gwinn was an African American from Boston, Massachusetts. He was one of the first black Americans to participate in the antebellum American Back-to-Africa movement under the auspices of Captain Paul Cuffe's 1815 voyage to Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone Creole people is an ethnic group in Sierra Leone. The Creole people are descendants of freed African American, West Indian, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown. Today, the Creoles comprise about 2% of the population of Sierra Leone.
Ali Eisami Gazirmabe of Bornu, later known as William Harding, was a Kanuri man liberated from slavery by the British Navy. Afterwards, he lived in Sierra Leone and worked with the German missionary Sigismund Koelle in creating a Kanuri grammar. In addition, Koelle recorded Eisami's stories of his life, composing a short memoir of his enslavement; Koelle refers to the Kanuri man as "Ali Eisami Gazirma", that is, Ali, whose mother was Eisa, from Gazir.
↑ Quote: "The brig Traveller, lately arrived at Liverpool, from Sierra Leone, is perhaps the first vessel that ever reached Europe, entirely owned and navigated by Negroes. Her mate and all her crew are negroes, or the immediate descendants of negroes". The Times (London), 2 August 1811, p. 3
↑ Thomas, p. 137, note 16, points out letters from Governor Columbine, and p. 58 further speaks to the tight hold the British merchant company Macauley & Babington held over the Sierra Leone trade to the detriment of native black merchants.
↑ Channing, George A. Early Recollections of Newport, Rhode Island from the year 1793 to 1811, Boston: A. J. Ward and Charles E. Hammett, Jr., 1898. p. 170, Greene, p. 307, and Thomas, p. 118.
↑ Cuffe, Paul. "The Will of Paul Cuffe." The Journal of Negro History vol. 8, no. 2 (April 1923) pp. 230-232. ASALH website. Accessed on February 22, 2016 via JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2713613.pdf
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