1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class the production 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy Wee Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 1: Today's topic was suggested by a friend of mine who 5 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: was raised Quaker and who grew up attending meetings at 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: the same meeting house that today's subject helped rebuild in 7 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: the eighteen teens, and subject as Paul cuffy. Sometimes you 8 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: will see his name spelled with two ease at the 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: end of cuffee, and sometimes with just one. I had 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 1: never heard of Paul Cuffey before this conversation, and when 11 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: my friends told me about him, I sort of took 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: a cursory look at things. I was like, oh, yeah, 13 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: he does seem pretty interesting. Months later, after finally moving 14 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: him up to the top of the list and getting 15 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: into actual research, I became so fascinated that I took 16 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: a field trip to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where there is 17 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: an exhibit on him at the New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: and the park next to the museum was named in 19 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,759 Speaker 1: his honor. It was not that I needed additional information. 20 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: I was just so intrigued by the whole thing. I 21 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: was like, I want to go see this exhibit. So 22 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: let's we got in the car we went. I love it. 23 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: Paul Coffee was born on January seventeen, seventeen fifty nine, 24 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: on Cutty Hunk Island, which is off the coast of 25 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: Massachusetts in Buzzards Bay. This is on the far western 26 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: end of the Elizabeth Islands, which are south of New Bedford, Massachusetts, 27 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: on the mainland and northwest of the island of Martha's Vineyard. 28 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: Paul was the sixth child of ten and the fourth 29 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: son born to Kofee Slocum. He was an African man 30 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: from what's now Ghana and Ruth Moses, who was wampanag. 31 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,759 Speaker 1: Kofe is a name used in the Chweed dialect, which 32 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: is spoken by the Achan people for boys born on 33 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: a Friday, So if that was the name that was 34 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: given to him before he was taken from Africa, he 35 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: was most likely from one of the many many subgroups 36 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: that make up the Akan people. Kofee Slocum was enslaved 37 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: and transported to North America when he was about ten 38 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: years old, and in the seventeen twenties he was purchased 39 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: by Ebenezer Slocum, a Quaker from Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It's not 40 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,359 Speaker 1: completely clear how Kofi was freed about twenty five years later. 41 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: Ebenezer sold Kofe to his nephew John in seventeen forty two, 42 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: and according to some accounts, John freed Kofe about three 43 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: years later as the religious Society of Friends became more 44 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: opposed to slavery. But in other versions of the story, 45 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: Kofi was given permission to do additional work, and he 46 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: used the money that he earned in that work to 47 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: purchase his own freedom, regardless, on July seventeenth of seventeen 48 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: forty six, which was a year or so after his 49 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: Manu mission, Kofe Slocum married Ruth Moses, and it was 50 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,239 Speaker 1: relatively common in this part of New England for African 51 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: men to marry Indigenous women Because of the demographics of 52 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: slavery in New England, the enslaved and free African population 53 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:59,919 Speaker 1: usually included more men than women. Conversely, indigenous communities to 54 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 1: have more adult women than men because Indigenous men were 55 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: more likely to be enslaved or imprisoned or forced into 56 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: indentured servitude. This had been the case for decades by 57 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: the time Kofe and Ruth married. For example, after King 58 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,519 Speaker 1: Philip's War in the late sixteen seventies, the British enslaved 59 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: roughly a thousand indigenous men to Bermuda and other parts 60 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: of the Caribbean, while enslaving indigenous women and children and 61 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: keeping them in New England. While the Slocum children had 62 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: both African and Wampanog ancestry, among the white community, they 63 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: were usually considered to be Black. For their own part, 64 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: Paul and his siblings referred to themselves in a number 65 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: of ways over their lifetimes, referencing both their African and 66 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: their Indigenous heritage. This included the term musty, which was 67 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: a term used for people of multi racial ancestry in 68 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: coastal Massachusetts. It was most often used to describe people 69 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: who were both African and Indigenous. In seventeen sixty one, 70 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: Kofee Slocum bought a hundred and sixteen eight farm in 71 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: Dartmouth and the whole family moved there. Eleven years later, 72 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: he died and left the farm to Paul and his 73 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: brother John. It was also around this time that most 74 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: of Kofey's children changed their last name from Slocum, which 75 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: had been the last name of the people who had 76 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: enslaved their father to Cuffee, which is an anglicization of 77 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: his first name. Paul Cuffey was only about thirteen when 78 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: his father died, and even though he and his brother 79 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: had inherited the farm, their father also had left some debts, 80 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: so it was not really as though they suddenly had 81 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: enough to support the whole family. The children also hadn't 82 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: had access to any sort of formal education, either on 83 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,359 Speaker 1: Cutty Hunk Island or in Dartmouth, so Paul, with the 84 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: hope of helping to support his family, decided to go 85 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 1: to sea in seventeen seventy three, with his brother staying 86 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: in Dartmouth to manage the farm. Aside from jobs that 87 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: mostly involved manual labor, there were not a lot of 88 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,480 Speaker 1: occupations open to people of color in New England at 89 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: this point, but whaling and other seafaring work were some 90 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 1: think of an exception. These were exceptionally dangerous industries, which 91 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: meant that ship owners, captains and others were usually pretty 92 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: eager to hire anybody who was willing to do the 93 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:15,479 Speaker 1: work at sea away from society's expectations. Sometimes crews could 94 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,280 Speaker 1: be more tolerant. Plus, if members of the crew could 95 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: not work together, they put everybody aboard at risk. To 96 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: add to that, the Wampanog people had their own maritime 97 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,679 Speaker 1: traditions that predated the arrival of European colonists in New England. 98 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: This included drift whaling, which is butchering dead or dying 99 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: whales that had washed up on shore, as well as 100 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: fishing with harpoons. In the early seventeen hundreds, as English 101 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: colonists were establishing a whaling industry in New England, Wampanog 102 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: and other indigenous people provided critical knowledge and labor, including 103 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: teaching English colonists how to butcher and prepare whales. Indigenous 104 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: people's involvement in the early whaling industry in New England 105 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 1: was often at best under coercion. This included things like 106 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: being flour furst into indentured servitude on whaling ships in 107 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: order to pay off debts. This could even extend to 108 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: the indentured man's children, who were obligated to take on 109 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: his indenture if he was killed at sea or if 110 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,359 Speaker 1: he incurred fur their debt. So the whaling industry was 111 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: simultaneously exploitive, especially of indigenous and African labor, and also 112 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 1: an incredibly lucrative industry in which it was possible for 113 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: indigenous and African men to rise to a higher rank 114 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: than they could in any other line of work. And 115 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: that is what eventually happened to Paul Cuffey and his 116 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: first voyages. He spent his free time at sea teaching 117 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:37,919 Speaker 1: himself to read and write and do arithmetic, and he 118 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: also studied navigation with the more experienced members of the crew. 119 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: Shortly after the Revolutionary War started, a ship that Cuffey 120 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: was on was captured by the British and he was 121 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: imprisoned in New York for three months. Once he got 122 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,799 Speaker 1: out of prison, he went back to the family farm 123 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: for a while, but soon he built a small open 124 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: boat of his own and then started using it to 125 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: run supplies through the British blockade. He ran the blockade 126 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:08,720 Speaker 1: repeatedly between seventeen seventy seven and seventeen three. Both sides 127 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: in the Revolutionary War tried to recruit black soldiers, and 128 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: by that point Cuffey was about the right age to 129 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: join up, but he never took a side in the war, 130 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: at least in terms of active fighting. What he did 131 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: do was protest taxation, and we're going to get into 132 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: that after we first have a sponsor break. As we've 133 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: talked about on the show before, one of the issues 134 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: involved in the American Revolution was taxation, including taxes that 135 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: British colonists in North America found to be egregious and 136 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: the idea that colonists are being taxed but they didn't 137 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: have any representation in parliament. And that second idea had 138 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: another application to free black people in Massachusetts. They had 139 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: to pay taxes, but they did not have the right 140 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: to vote at all. Paul and John Cuffey were of 141 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: the opinion that under the Constitution of Massachusetts, taxation and 142 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: the rights of citizenship were inextricably connected. If they couldn't vote, 143 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: they were not being treated as citizens, so they also 144 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: should not be taxed. Paul Cuffey stopped paying taxes in 145 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy eight. By seventeen eighty he owed more than 146 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 1: one hundred fifty pounds in back taxes. That year, John 147 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: and Paul Cuffey filed a petition along with three other 148 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: free black men, and it read, in part quote, we 149 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: being chiefly of the African extract and by reason of 150 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: long bondage and hard slavery. We have been deprived of 151 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: enjoying the profits of our labor or the advantage of 152 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: inheriting estates from my parents. As our neighbors, the white 153 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: people do we have been and are now taxed, both 154 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: in our polls and that small pittance of a state which, 155 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,079 Speaker 1: through much hard labor and industry, we have got together 156 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: to sustain ourselves and families withal. The petition went on 157 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: to say that without tax relief, these circumstances would reduce 158 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: them to begging, and as them to be a burden 159 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: on others, before saying quote, we apprehend ourselves to be 160 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: aggrieved in that while we are not allowed the privilege 161 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: of freemen of the state, having no vote or influence 162 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: in the election of those that tax us, yet many 163 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 1: of our color, as is well known, have cheerfully entered 164 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 1: the field of battle in the defense of the common cause. 165 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:24,319 Speaker 1: Their petition for tax relief was denied, and Paul Cuffey 166 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,680 Speaker 1: was briefly jailed. Walter Spooner, who was a member of 167 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: a prominent family in Dartmouth, helped arrange the terms of 168 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: Cuffey's release and a reduction in the amount of tax 169 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,599 Speaker 1: that he owed, so this petition was not immediately successful, 170 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: at least in terms of getting some tax relief for them, 171 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: but it is credited with the black men getting the 172 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: right to vote in Massachusetts under the same terms as 173 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: white men in seventeen eighty three. On February eighty three, 174 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:54,559 Speaker 1: Paul Cuffey married an Indigenous woman named Alice Abele Pequitt 175 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: or Peaquat, who had been previously widowed. They went on 176 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: to have several children together. Sources mentioned seven or eight, 177 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: including two sons and four daughters who were still living 178 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: when their father wrote his will. Alice is normally described 179 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:14,679 Speaker 1: as being Wampanag. Her late husband had been Peaquat. Also 180 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty three, Paul Cuffey established a shipping business 181 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,679 Speaker 1: with his brother in law, Michael Wayner. Wayner was Wapanag 182 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: and was married to Cuffy's sister Mary in seventeen eighty nine. 183 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,319 Speaker 1: As their business grew, Wayner bought some riverfront property and 184 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: they established a shipyard there. At this point, Cuffey was 185 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: wearing a lot of hats, including building ships, trading, and whaling. 186 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: He eventually started captaining his own vessels, and while his 187 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: first voyages were beset by hazards like pirates and shipwrecks, 188 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: he persevered until he started to turn a profit. He 189 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: also bought a farm in Westport, Massachusetts, where he and 190 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 1: his family lived, and over time he bought other homes 191 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 1: and farms elsewhere in New England. Over the next decade 192 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: or so, Paul Cuffey became one of the wealthiest people 193 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 1: in west He may have been the wealthiest person of 194 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: color anywhere in the United States while he was living, 195 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: and he consistently used his wealth to help other people, 196 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: especially other people of color. The captains and crews of 197 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,199 Speaker 1: his ships were always black and indigenous men, and that 198 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: was actually something that made their work even more dangerous 199 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: because they were trading with parts of the world where 200 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 1: slavery was still being practiced, including the American South. In 201 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety seven, Cuffey proposed the establishment of an integrated 202 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: school in Westport. When the town leadership couldn't come to 203 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: a consensus about it, something that was probably influenced by racism. 204 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: Cuffey built the school on his own property with his 205 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: own money, and that school opened in seventeen nine, with 206 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:46,559 Speaker 1: its students including about fifteen children who were part of 207 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: Cuffey's immediate and extended family, as well as any other 208 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: child who wanted to attend, regardless of their race. Coffey 209 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 1: also supported a smallpox hospital in Westport, and in eighteen 210 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 1: hundred he bought a gristmill. In eighteen o eight, Cuffey 211 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: formally joined the religious Society of Friends by becoming a 212 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: member of the Westport Monthly Meeting. His family had been 213 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: connected to Quakers ever since he was a child. The 214 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,440 Speaker 1: Quakers had enslaved his father like that that's complicated, but 215 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: like they had been part of the Quaker community in 216 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: a lot of ways. This was the first time that 217 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: he was documented as actually becoming a member of a meeting. 218 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: To be clear, the Quaker meetings had not been integrated 219 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,240 Speaker 1: when he was a child. The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was 220 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 1: the first to formally allow black members in seventeen nineties six. 221 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: A few years later after joining the meeting, Paul became 222 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:39,559 Speaker 1: part of the committee that planned and oversaw the construction 223 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 1: of the new meeting house. Eventually, he also became the 224 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: first black person to attend the New England Yearly Meeting. 225 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: Throughout all of this, Cuffey was still working as a 226 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,560 Speaker 1: Sea captain, traveling all around the Atlantic. Along the way, 227 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: he made extensive connections among the black, white, and indigenous 228 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:59,599 Speaker 1: communities of New England, as well as with British abolitionists, 229 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: and in all of his work he was focused on 230 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: providing jobs, support and opportunities for other people of color, 231 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 1: along with overall philanthropy. He also had a reputation for 232 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,560 Speaker 1: being incredibly scrupulous in all of this. In the words 233 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,440 Speaker 1: of the Reverend Peter Williams Jr. And a tribute to 234 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 1: Cuffey that he wrote after his death, quote, he was 235 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:23,119 Speaker 1: so conscientious that he would sooner sacrifice his private interests 236 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: than engage in any enterprise, however lawful or profitable, that 237 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: might have a tendency, either directly or indirectly, to injure 238 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 1: his fellow men. For instance, he would not deal in 239 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: ardent spirits nor enslaves, though he might have done either 240 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:40,079 Speaker 1: without violating the laws of his country, and with great 241 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:44,559 Speaker 1: prospects of pecuniary gain. By eighteen o six, Cuffey's property 242 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,560 Speaker 1: was valued at about twenty thousand dollars, which made him 243 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: the wealthiest person in Westport. By eighteen o nine, when 244 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: he turned fifty, he owned multiple sailing vessels, including a 245 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: ship and two brigs, as well as multiple houses, farms, 246 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:00,720 Speaker 1: land in the mill, and he turned of that wealth 247 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: to an even more ambitious focus, making it possible for 248 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: people of African descent to immigrate to Africa. We'll have 249 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: more on that. After another quick sponsor break in the 250 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: early eight hundreds, Paul Cuppies started thinking about the idea 251 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 1: of making it possible for Africans and people of African 252 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: descent and the United States to resettle in Africa, specifically 253 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: in what was then the British colony of Sierra Leone. 254 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 1: As a super quick recap, which means we got to 255 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: back up a little bit, there were free and enslaved 256 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: black soldiers on both sides of the American Revolutionary War. 257 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: People chose sides for a variety of reasons, but when 258 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: it came to enslaved people, it often involved a promise 259 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: of freedom in exchange for their military service. For the 260 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: most part, though this did not work out as planned. 261 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 1: On the patriot side, many enslaved people were not given 262 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 1: their promised freedom after the war ended, and on the 263 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: loyalist side, people were free, but they were also regarded 264 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: as traders to the United States. They could not stay 265 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: in the US and were forced to leave. Many of 266 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,080 Speaker 1: them wound up in Nova Scotia or in British Territory 267 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: in the Caribbean. At the end of the war, there 268 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: were at least fourteen thousand Black loyalists seeking refuge in 269 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: British Territory, and Britain did not really have a plan 270 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 1: for this. Most black loyalists arrived with nothing. Those who 271 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: hadn't been enslaved generally lost all their property due to 272 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: confiscation laws. Widespread racism also meant that Britain's white society 273 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: was not generally open to the idea of integration. Whether 274 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: black loyalists wanted to assimilate with British society is a 275 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: whole other question. Much of this also applied to enslaved 276 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 1: people in Britain who had been freed after Lord Mansfield's 277 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:54,400 Speaker 1: decision in Somerset versus Stewart in seventeen seventy two. So 278 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighties six in Britain, a plan was proposed 279 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: to resettle all these people in Africa, under the idea 280 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: that it would be removing a burden from the British public. 281 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: This plan was approved by the British government and by 282 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor. That 283 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: organization had initially been established to provide relief for people 284 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: from the Indian subcontinent, but that work had been expanded 285 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: to also include people of African descent. The first attempt 286 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: to establish a colony in Sierra Leone failed for many reasons, 287 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: including illnesses and death sturing transport, bad weather once they 288 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: arrived in West Africa, a lack of preparation and supplies, 289 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: and the fact that the British hadn't made any kind 290 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: of treaty or other arrangement with the local people of 291 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: Sierra Leone regarding this colony. Yeah, they really were kind 292 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: of like, we want to remove all of you from 293 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: our society. We're dropping you off in Africa. Like that 294 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: was nearly the extent of it was not planned well. 295 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: Even so, though in the Sierra Leone company was established 296 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: to try again. This time around, able fishnists did travel 297 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 1: to see ear Leone to try to establish good relationships 298 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: with the local people and then also to mediate between 299 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: the locals and the colony. But the British government was 300 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,160 Speaker 1: really viewing this as a chance to make money, basically 301 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 1: to start a plantation that used free Africans and people 302 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: of African ancestry as labor, with the Sierra Leone company 303 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,159 Speaker 1: in charge of it. More than one thousand free people 304 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:27,439 Speaker 1: were transported to see ear Leone the following year, and 305 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:30,160 Speaker 1: Britain had to offer a lot of incentives to convince 306 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,719 Speaker 1: most people to go. Overall, the people that were being 307 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 1: resettled had never been to Africa before, and many had 308 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: justifiable concerns about the possibility of being captured and sold 309 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: back into slavery in Africa. At the same time, there were, 310 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,919 Speaker 1: for sure, some people who either genuinely wanted to go 311 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,920 Speaker 1: to Africa or who thought that it was their best option. 312 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:54,639 Speaker 1: This included some people who had been born somewhere in 313 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: Africa and wanted the chance to go back home. It 314 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: also included people who thought that racism and white supremacy 315 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: were so entrenched where they were that they might have 316 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:06,879 Speaker 1: a better chance at a good life somewhere else in 317 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: the US. One of the people of color interested in 318 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,640 Speaker 1: this idea was Paul Cuffey. In eighteen ten, he discussed 319 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,359 Speaker 1: it with the Westport Friends Meeting, saying that he had 320 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,679 Speaker 1: been thinking about it for a few years at that point. 321 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 1: In eighteen eleven, at the encouragement of British abolitionists, he 322 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: visited the colony of Sierra Leone for himself to see 323 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: what conditions were like and to make recommendations for how 324 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:32,160 Speaker 1: to improve it. By the time Cuffey got to Sierra Leone, 325 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: the Sierra Leone Company had been dissolved to sum it 326 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,440 Speaker 1: up there had been problems. They were removed of that responsibility. 327 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: The colony was under British control. It had a population 328 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: of about three thousand people. There were nearly a thousand 329 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: Black Loyalists, who were usually referred to as Nova Scotians. 330 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: There were more than eight hundred Jamaican Maroons and about 331 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:57,440 Speaker 1: one thousand people who had been taken from captured slave ships, 332 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: and there were also about a hundred local Africans living 333 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: in the colony. Although all of these people were African 334 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: or of African ancestry, otherwise many of them didn't have 335 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: much in common. Black Loyalists and Jamaican Maroons had both 336 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: arrived from the America's but they had vastly different backgrounds 337 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: and experiences. People who had been on captured slave ships 338 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: represented a diversity of African nations and languages, so on 339 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:26,879 Speaker 1: top of ongoing issues with things like organizations, supplies, weather, 340 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: and relationships with the local people. There was also a 341 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: big cultural and language barrier issue among the people being 342 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: resettled at the colony. Some of the descriptions of Cuffey's 343 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 1: work and Sierra Leone really focus on its missionary angle, 344 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:44,679 Speaker 1: and the idea of spreading Christianity in Africa was a 345 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 1: factor in all this, but a much bigger part of 346 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,480 Speaker 1: it was Cuffey's very consistent focus on trying to elevate 347 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: and provide opportunities for other people of color. The Transatlantic 348 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: slave trade had devastated the existing social structures and economy 349 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 1: of hundreds of African nations and people's and Cuffey thought 350 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: that through things like agriculture, whaling, lumber, and other industries, 351 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 1: the nations and peoples of Africa could try to undo 352 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,479 Speaker 1: that damage, and that all of them collectively could become 353 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,639 Speaker 1: a global economic power. And he thought that a colony 354 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,399 Speaker 1: made up of people of African ancestry could be an 355 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 1: important part of that economic system, bringing in labor and 356 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: resources to help everyone involved lift each other up. He 357 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,479 Speaker 1: spent his time in Sierra Leone talking to people who 358 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: were actually affected by immigrating both the colonists themselves and 359 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 1: the local people. He also did practical work like surveying 360 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:42,959 Speaker 1: sites for a sawmill and figuring out how the colony 361 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: could harvest their own salt rather than buying it from 362 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,399 Speaker 1: white merchants. And he also founded the Friendly Society of 363 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,159 Speaker 1: Sierra Leone, which was a mutual aid society headquartered in 364 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: Freetown to assist quote the black settlers of Sierra Leone 365 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,879 Speaker 1: and the natives of Africa generally in the cultivation of 366 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,520 Speaker 1: or soil by the sale of their produce. He also 367 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: worked extensively to build connections among all the different colonists 368 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,840 Speaker 1: and the leadership of the local African nations. Although Cuffey 369 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: had the support of British abolitionists and all this work, 370 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,199 Speaker 1: British merchants, who effectively had a monopoly on trade with 371 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:22,640 Speaker 1: Sierra Leone, saw it as threatening. They started spreading false 372 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: and negative propaganda about him, and when he arrived in 373 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: Liverpool from Sierra Leone in August of eighteen eleven, his apprentice, 374 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, was arrested and imprisoned, something that the same 375 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: group of merchants had conspired to have done. As a 376 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 1: side note, before Britain abolished its participation in the slave trade, 377 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 1: Liverpool had been a major slave board. The arrival of 378 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: Coffee Ship, which with its captain and crew entirely made 379 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,199 Speaker 1: up of freemen of African descent, caused enough comment and 380 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: curiosity that it was covered in the newspapers. With the 381 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:00,919 Speaker 1: help of prominent British quakers, Cuffey eventually got his apprentice 382 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:05,359 Speaker 1: released from prison and he returned to the United States. However, 383 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: back in eighteen oh seven, President Thomas Jefferson had signed 384 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: the Embargo Act into law. This came out of the 385 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: Napoleonic Wars, when both Britain and France had each implemented 386 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: punitive trade restrictions, and we're both harassing American ships at sea. 387 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: When Cuffee arrived back in the United States on April 388 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 1: nineteenth of eighteen twelve, carrying a cargo of goods from 389 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: Sierra Leone, he was found to be in violation of 390 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 1: that Act, and his ship and goods were seized. Cuffey's 391 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,240 Speaker 1: response was to petition President James Madison for its release. 392 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: On May second, eighteen twelve, he met with both Madison 393 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 1: and the Secretary of the Treasury, making him probably the 394 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: first African American to meet with a sitting president. His 395 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: goods were ultimately released, and he also discussed his ideas 396 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: for African colonization with the president while he was there. 397 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,199 Speaker 1: Cuffy's plan at this point was to start arranging a 398 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: round trip voyage between we New England and Sierra Leone 399 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,160 Speaker 1: about once a year. It would carry Africans and their 400 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,399 Speaker 1: descendants to Sierra Leone, and it would return with African 401 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: goods to trade with North America and Europe. But the 402 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 1: War of eighteen twelve started not long after that meeting 403 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,359 Speaker 1: with the President and interrupted that plan. Apart from the 404 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,080 Speaker 1: inherently more dangerous sea travel during the war, there was 405 00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: no way he could make this three pronged trade route 406 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,679 Speaker 1: work if two of the prongs were at war with 407 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: each other. He tried to get exceptions to the various 408 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 1: embargoes that were in place and carry on with this project, 409 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: but that was denied, so for a time he turned 410 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 1: his attention more toward advocating for colonization from within the 411 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: United States. In eighteen twelve, he visited major cities in 412 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: the US, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City to 413 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: establish branches of the African Institution. This was what had 414 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,320 Speaker 1: replaced the Society for the Abolition of Slave Trade in 415 00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: Britain after slavery had been abolished there. He was really 416 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: focused on getting a movement for colon zation started led 417 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:05,159 Speaker 1: by Africans and people of African descent for themselves to 418 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: allow people who wanted to immigrate to do so. At first, 419 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,639 Speaker 1: his efforts looked pretty promising. Prominent black leaders in the 420 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: cities that he visited supported his plan and became involved 421 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,680 Speaker 1: with the African Institution. But on December tenth, eighteen fifteen, 422 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,400 Speaker 1: he departed for Sierra Leone aboard his brig called the Traveler. 423 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,399 Speaker 1: On board the Traveler, we're thirty eight people, including two 424 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: families that were headed by people who had been enslaved 425 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,160 Speaker 1: and taken to the United States from what's now Senegal 426 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cuffey was supposed 427 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,560 Speaker 1: to have some funding from the African Institution in London 428 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,400 Speaker 1: for this, but that didn't pan out, and only eight 429 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: of the people aboard the Traveler were able to pay 430 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: their own way, so Coffey paid for the rest himself 431 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,159 Speaker 1: at a cost of about five thousand dollars. This is 432 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 1: believed to be the first time that a group of 433 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: African Americans emigrated from North America to Africa through a 434 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: venture that was run by and for black people. In 435 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: spite of this promising start, though, Cuffy's efforts fell apart 436 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 1: pretty quickly, the American Colonization Society was established in the 437 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,360 Speaker 1: United States in eighteen sixteen. On its surface, this organization 438 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,480 Speaker 1: had some of the same goals as what Cuffey was doing. 439 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,119 Speaker 1: But while Cuffy was focused on giving people choices and 440 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,119 Speaker 1: on empowering both the colonists and the local people of 441 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,160 Speaker 1: Sierra Leone, a lot of the people who were involved 442 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:28,960 Speaker 1: with the American Colonization Society were not. Some of the 443 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,439 Speaker 1: organization's leaders were of a mindset similar to Cuffy's, but 444 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: others included people like Henry Clay, who thought that the 445 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 1: colonization movement would quote rid our country of a useless 446 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:44,400 Speaker 1: and pernicious, if not dangerous portion of its population. There 447 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,680 Speaker 1: had always been supporters of this colonization idea who are 448 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: motivated by racism. Even amongst staunch abolitionists, there were people 449 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,680 Speaker 1: who thought that free black people could never be part 450 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,439 Speaker 1: of white society, and so removing them to Africa was 451 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 1: the best for everyone concerned. But as the colonization movement grew, 452 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 1: it also drew the attention of slave owners, who found 453 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: the free black population to be a threat to the 454 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,920 Speaker 1: institution of slavery. Some in the colonization movement, including both 455 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:17,119 Speaker 1: abolitionists and slave owners, started to advocate for the idea 456 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 1: of freeing people only if they agreed to emigrate. Quaker 457 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,919 Speaker 1: abolitionists Levi Coffins some of the situation up this way quote. 458 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: Many of us were opposed to making colonization a condition 459 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,679 Speaker 1: of freedom, believing it to be an odious plan of 460 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: expatriation concocted by slaveholders to open a drain by which 461 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: they might get rid of free negroes and thus remain 462 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: in more secure position of their slave property. They considered 463 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:47,959 Speaker 1: free negroes a dangerous element among slaves. We had no 464 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 1: objection to free negroes going to Africa of their own 465 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: free will, but to compel them to go as a 466 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: condition of freedom was a movement to which we were 467 00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 1: conscientiously opposed and against which we strongly contended. When the 468 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,879 Speaker 1: vote was taken, the motion was carried by a small majority. 469 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: We feel that the slave power had got the ascendancy 470 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 1: in our society, and we could no longer work with it. 471 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 1: Cuffey really tried to distance his project from the colonization movements, 472 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 1: racist elements, and motivations, but in spite of those efforts, 473 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,240 Speaker 1: by eighteen seventeen, he had lost a lot of his 474 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: support in the Black community in the United States. In 475 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,520 Speaker 1: January of eighteen seventeen, attendees at a meeting of the 476 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:33,719 Speaker 1: African Institute in Philadelphia were nearly unanimous and their opposition 477 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: to the idea of colonization. They issued a resolution that read, 478 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: in part quote, whereas our ancestors, not by choice, were 479 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: the first successful cultivators of the wilds of America, we 480 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: their descendants feel ourselves entitled to participate in the blessings 481 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,120 Speaker 1: of her luxuriant soil, which their blood and sweat manured, 482 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: And that any measure or system of measures having tendency 483 00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: to banish us from her bosom would not only be cruel, 484 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,400 Speaker 1: but in direct violation of those principles which have been 485 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:08,160 Speaker 1: the boast of this republic. Philadelphia businessman James Forton, who 486 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:11,200 Speaker 1: had supported Cuffey's work earlier on and had been part 487 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 1: of the African Institution, there also withdrew his support. He 488 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,200 Speaker 1: co authored a statement in August of eighteen seventeen which said, quote, 489 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: the plan of colonizing is not asked for by us, 490 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: we renounce and disclaim any connection with it. By this point, 491 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: Cuffey had become seriously ill, and he knew that he 492 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 1: was dying. He gathered his family on August seventeenth of 493 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,040 Speaker 1: eighteen seventeen to say goodbye, and he died on September 494 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: seven of that year. His funeral was held the following 495 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: day at Westport Friends Meeting House and he was buried 496 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: in its burial ground. Today there's a monuments to Paul 497 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,480 Speaker 1: Cuffey at the Westport Meeting House which reads quote and 498 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:53,719 Speaker 1: Memory of Captain Paul Cuffey, Patriot, navigator, educator, philanthropist, friend, 499 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: a noble character. Although the idea of colonization had fallen 500 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: out of favor with most of the black community when 501 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: Cuffey died, the American Colonization Society continued on, and Liberia 502 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: was established as a colony for Black Americans in eighteen 503 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: forty seven. Some of the people who had gone to 504 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:15,480 Speaker 1: see Early One aboard the Traveler eventually moved there. Today, 505 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,479 Speaker 1: Paul Cuffey is often described as a forerunner in the 506 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: Pan African movement. This movement is rooted in the idea 507 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 1: that everyone of African descent has some common interests and 508 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: is united by their African ancestry, regardless of whether they're 509 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: living in Africa or elsewhere. It's not an idea that 510 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: can really be credited to one individual, specific person, but 511 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: it's often traced back to people like Henry Sylvester Williams, 512 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: who established the Pan African Association at the end of 513 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,400 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, and W. E. B. Du Boys and 514 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:49,160 Speaker 1: his contemporaries who organized the first Pan African Congress in 515 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,360 Speaker 1: nineteen hundred, so he was kind of presaging their ideas 516 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: by almost a century. Do you have some listener mail? 517 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: I sure do, I have listener mail from Lily and 518 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: Lily wrote after our episode on the Elgin Marbles and 519 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: are behind the scenes minised on that, and Lily says, 520 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: dear Holly and Tracy, I thought you might want to 521 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: know that the museum world is aware of and having 522 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: conversations about the complicity of academia and the illegal art market. 523 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:22,239 Speaker 1: These conversations are just happening primarily in academic forums like 524 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: the Archaeological Institute of America's annual conference. The only popular, 525 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: if sensationalized presentation of the issue that I know of 526 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: is the book Chasing Aphrodite by Jason Felch and Ralph 527 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 1: frem Alino, which is a good read. By the way, 528 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: responsible museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 529 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: Art Institute of Chicago, and the Yale University Gallery are 530 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:45,719 Speaker 1: now exceedingly careful to only by artwork that has not 531 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:49,000 Speaker 1: passed through the illegal art market. The real issue moving 532 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: forward is not knowing what to do with art of 533 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: questionable provenance which was donated by influential benefactors such as alumni, 534 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 1: whose families may be offended if you refuse or attempt 535 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 1: to repatriate their gift. What to do with art excavated 536 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: under the auspices of questionable international power dynamics as another 537 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: puzzle curators are currently pondering. The general consensus thus far 538 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 1: seems to be to highlight the history is good and 539 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,720 Speaker 1: bad of various objects on display via accompanying text panels 540 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:21,200 Speaker 1: or presentations on iPads. I hope this mission of insight 541 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:23,560 Speaker 1: into the museum world is helpful to you. Please keep 542 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: the awesome podcast episodes coming even or perhaps especially when 543 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 1: they are controversial. Best Lily, Thank you so much Lily 544 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: for that email. Uh We've gotten some other emails on 545 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,160 Speaker 1: the same subject as well, so I'm sure it will 546 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 1: make another appearance in listener mail in the future. If 547 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:42,280 Speaker 1: you would like to write to us about this or 548 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:44,880 Speaker 1: any other podcast. Where at History Podcasts that I heart 549 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: radio dot com, and then we're all over social media 550 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 1: admiss in History. That's where you can find our Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, 551 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: and Instagram, and you can subscribe to our show on Apple, podcast, 552 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, and anywhere else you get 553 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: a podcast. Stuff You Missed in History Class is a 554 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more 555 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, 556 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 557 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: M