Paul Cuffe Conducts Landmark Transatlantic Voyage

Paul Cuffe, a free Black shipowner and merchant from Massachusetts, completed a remarkable transatlantic voyage to Sierra Leone at his own expense, transporting 38 free Black Americans who wished to resettle in Africa. Cuffe was one of the wealthiest Black men in early America, owning a fleet of ships and employing Black sailors at a time when such enterprise was nearly unimaginable for African Americans. His voyage was a pioneering act of Black self-determination and Pan-African vision.