Cuffee

Cuffee

Cuffee

Anglicized Akan name found as both a first and surname in African-American culture

Not to be confused with Coffee, Cuffee (Jamaica), Cuffe, Coffy (person), or Koffee.

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]

Quick Facts Cuffee Cuffey Coffey, Current region ...

Racist connotation

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

United Kingdom

  • William Cuffay (1788–1870), Chartist leader, the son of a former slave.

Jamaica

See also

References

  1. [1]
    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.
  2. [2]
    Blassingame, John W. (September 15, 2008). Black New Orleans, 1860–1880. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226057095. Retrieved 8 August 2017 – via Google Books.
  3. [3]
    Speech to the United States Senate, May 7, 1860
  4. [4]
    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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