Description: "Paul Cuffe is best understood as a member of the Black founding fathers in the United States. Born in 1759 on Cuttyhunk Island in Massachusetts, Cuffe emerged from anonymity to become the most celebrated African-American sea captain during the Age of Sail. Cuffe was a well-known abolitionist, veteran, and community activist, and celebrity followed him as he built a shipping empire. Cuffe and his Black crews shook the foundations of systemic racism by sailing into ports where slavery was legal. He established the first racially integrated school in the United States in Westport, Massachusetts, and is considered the leader of America's first back-to-Africa movement. Jeffrey A. Fortin describes Cuffe's experiences in vivid detail and places them within the broader history of the Early Republic, revealing the central role of African Americans in the founding of the United States. Fortin situates Cuffe within a fascinating Atlantic world where race and identity were fluid, and Africans and African Americans sought to build and govern a free Black nation in West Africa"--
Review Quotes:
"Fortin succeeds in capturing the complex, multifaceted life and yeomanry of Paul Cuffe. The breadth of topics covered in this book will spark the interest of historians of the Early Republic, the Atlantic world and the Black Atlantic, as well the wider public."--International Journal of Maritime History
"A beautifully composed narrative. . . . [Fortin's] research is impressive, aided partially by Cuffe's own papers."--William and Mary Quarterly
"This volume is narrative history at its best. It will educate historians and the reading public about Cuffe's importance. Highly recommended."--CHOICE
"Fortin portrays Cuffe as a thinker, a planner, and a savvy businessman--someone who championed the rights of both sides of his heritage--Black and Native American--with eloquence and pride. He navigated the halls of government, whether in his South Coast communities or the federal capital, as he worked for a better world for all. Although his life's work may have remained unfinished at the time of his death, we know for certain that without Paul Cuffe, the world would have been a much bleaker place."--John Galluzzo, Sea History "Cuffe's influence on the history of the colonization movement and African American, New England, and US history during the earliest days of the republic has been neglected over the past half-century. Fortin's biography is a significant achievement because it deeply considers this influence."--Ousmane Power-Greene, author of Against Wind and Tide: The African American Struggle against the Colonization Movement "Fortin writes a poignant study that comprehensively, imaginatively, and critically engages the life of Cuffe, while also outlining his immediate and long-lasting legacy."--Chernoh Sesay, Jr., DePaul University