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.[1]
| Cuffee Cuffey Coffey | |
|---|---|
| Current region | United States and Jamaica |
| Etymology | Kofi (born on Friday) |
| Place of origin |  AshantiEmpire of Ashanti |
Racist connotation
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The name was used in the United States as a derogatory term to refer to Black people.[2] 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."[3]
Notable people
editUnited States
edit- Cuffee Mayo (1803–1896), 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.[4]
- Paul Cuffee (missionary) (1757–1812), Native American (Shinnecock) Christian minister, missionary, and preacher.
United Kingdom
edit- William Cuffay (1788–1870), Chartist leader, the son of a former slave.
Jamaica
edit- Cuffee, a maroon who waged a slave rebellion against plantation owners in Jamaica in the early 1800s.
See also
edit- Quander family, oldest documented African-American family in the United States whose surname is of Fante origin.
References
edit- ^ 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.