Paul Cuffee

Though rare, inspirational silhouettes of African Americans circulated widely in early America. Paul Cuffee, the son of a freed African man and Wampanoag woman, owned and commanded sailing vessels from Massachusetts, and helped colonize Sierra Leone in the early 1800s. Memorials to Cuffee describe him as “tall and athletic—of noble bearing” and possessing “humility, civility, fortitude.”