Cuffee

Cuffee
Cuffey Coffey
Cuffee; Cuffey Coffey
Current region	United States and Jamaica
Etymology	Kofi (born on Friday)
Place of origin	Ashanti; Empire of Ashanti

Cuffee, Cuffey, or Coffey is a first name and surname recorded in African-American culture, believed to be derived from the Akan language name Kofi, meaning "born on a Friday". This was noted as one of the most common male names of West African origin which was retained by some American slaves.

Racist connotation

The name was used in the United States as a derogatory term to refer to Black people. For example, Jefferson Davis, then a US Senator from Mississippi who later became the President of the Confederate States, said that the discussion of slavery in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case was merely a question of "whether Cuffee should be kept in his normal condition or not."

Notable people

Guyana

Coffij, leader of the 18th century Berbice Rebellion in Guyana.

Jamaica

Cuffee, a maroon who waged a slave rebellion against plantation owners in Jamaica in the early 1800s.

United Kingdom

William Cuffay (1788–1870), Chartist leader, the son of a former slave.

United States

Cuffee Mayo (1802-1896), minister, laborer, and politician in North Carolina.
Ed Cuffee (1902–1959), a jazz musician born in Norfolk, Virginia who moved to New York City in 1920 to pursue his career as a jazz trombonist.
Paul Cuffee (1759–1817), a Massachusetts freeman and shipping magnate. Cuffee rejected the surname of his former owner, Slocum, and replaced it with his father's Akan name.
Paul Cuffee (missionary) (1757–1812), Native American (Shinnecock) Christian minister, missionary, and preacher.
James Cuffey (1911–1999), American astronomer
Robert Cuffey (d. 1960), American singer, member of The Five Sharps

References

↑ Junius P. Rodriguez (2007). Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-1-85109-544-5.
↑ Blassingame, John W. (September 15, 2008). Black New Orleans, 1860–1880. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226057095. Retrieved 8 August 2017 – via Google Books.
↑ Speech to the United States Senate, May 7, 1860
↑ Joseph Boskin (1988). Sambo: The Rise & Demise of an American Jester. Oxford University Press. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-0-19-505658-7.

[Rodriguez2007-1] Junius P. Rodriguez (2007). Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-1-85109-544-5.

[2] Blassingame, John W. (September 15, 2008). Black New Orleans, 1860–1880. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226057095. Retrieved 8 August 2017 – via Google Books.

[3] Speech to the United States Senate, May 7, 1860

[Boskin1988-4] Joseph Boskin (1988). Sambo: The Rise & Demise of an American Jester. Oxford University Press. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-0-19-505658-7.