Paul Cuffee

About

Remembered as a mariner, shipping industry entrepreneur, prominent Quaker, and abolitionist, he played a major role in bringing about the colonization of Sierra Leone by former American slaves.

Before Fame

In the early 1780s, he began building a fleet of ships that included the Sun Fish, the Mary, and the Ranger. He first traveled to Sierra Leone in 1811.

Trivia

In a late 1815 expedition to Sierra Leone, he transported nearly forty American colonists of African descent, including almost two dozen children.

Family Life

Born on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, to a Native American mother named Ruth Moses and a father of West African descent named Kofi Slocum, Paul Cuffee grew up with nine siblings. His marriage to Alice Pequit (who belonged to his mother's Wampanoag Native American tribe) produced children named Naomi, Mary, Ruth, Alice, Paul, Rhoda, and William.

Associated With

He and politician Henry Clay were both involved in efforts to re-colonize African-American ex-slaves; however, Cuffee took issue with Clay's racist views on the matter.