Cuffee
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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A racist depiction of a scene in the Catherine market of New York titled; "Cuffee dancing for eels" (1857).
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
United States
- 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]
- Edward Emerson Cuffee (1902-1959), a jazz musician born in Norfolk, Virginia who would move to New York City in 1920 to pursue his career as a jazz trombonist.
Jamaica
- Cuffee, A maroon who waged a slave rebellion against plantation owners in Jamaica in the early 1800s.
See also
- Quander family, Oldest documented African-American family in the United States whose surname is of Fante origin.
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.
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