Paul Cuffe Builds Maritime Business Empire

Paul Cuffe, the son of a formerly enslaved African man and a Wampanoag woman, built one of the most successful maritime businesses in New England, owning multiple ships and becoming one of the wealthiest Black men in America by the late 1790s. Cuffe used his wealth and influence to advocate for Black rights, including successfully petitioning for the right of free Black men to vote in Massachusetts, and later organized the first Black-led emigration voyage to Sierra Leone.