Paul Cuffe: Following His Footsteps, 200 years later

Westport devotes Saturday to memory of a most extraordinary citizen

Posted 9/13/17

Westport and the region will celebrate the remarkable life of Paul Cuffe on Saturday with the opening and tour of an African-American Native-American Heritage Trail, and a day-full of discussion …

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Paul Cuffe: Following His Footsteps, 200 years later

Westport devotes Saturday to memory of a most extraordinary citizen

Posted

Westport and the region will celebrate the remarkable life of Paul Cuffe on Saturday with the opening and tour of an African-American Native-American Heritage Trail, and a day-full of discussion about Cuffe and his influence 200 years after his death.

Westport has declared September 16 as Paul Cuffe Day, and the reading of proclamations from Governor Baker and other citations and recognitions will mark the occasion.

“Paul Cuffe: 1759-1817, Following His Footsteps,” will focus on this Westport man of many talents and accomplishments. Son of a freed slave father and Wampanoag Nation mother, Paul Cuffe became a businessman and mariner — owner of a series of ever-large ships culminating in the brig Traveller, and the 268-ton Alpha.

Along the way, he led efforts to help resettle freed slaves and to give all black citizens the right to vote in Massachusetts, funded and often preached at the Quaker Friends Meeting House in Westport, established one of the earliest racially integrated schools and became one of the nation’s leading black businessmen and entrepreneurs.

Throughout Saturday, leading Cuffe scholars and historians will describe Cuffe’s life and accomplishments. Lamont Thomas, the author of the most frequently cited biography of Paul Cuffe will chair a panel of Paul Cuffe scholars in a discussion of “Paul Cuffe and His Vision for a New World.” There will also be a presentation on the many images that profess to be of Paul Cuffe and a discussion of which ones are legitimate and which are not.

In the afternoon, the African American Native American Heritage Trail will be launched with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and an opportunity for participants to travel over the trail by bus with Cuffe scholars. The Heritage Trail will connect historic sites between Westport, Dartmouth and New Bedford that belonged to the Cuffe, Slocum and Wainer families.

The trail extends from the Captain Paul Cuffe Monument and grave markers at the Friends Meeting House in Westport to the Captain Paul Cuffe Memorial Park at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Along the way it includes sites that were the homesteads of Paul and Alice Cuffe, Michael and Mary Wainer and Cuff and Ruth Slocum, several business properties including a windmill at Westport Point, a residence and tannery of Michael Wainer’s in Russells Mills, and a store in New Bedford selling West Indian products owned by Paul Cuffe and two of his sons-in-law, Peter and Alexander Howard. A self-guided description of the sites will be available to participants and will be available at Westport Town Hall, the Handy House and other sites in the region.

The public is invited to the symposium and advance registration is requested. The Westport Historical Society website at http://wpthistory.org provides additional information and access to the on-line registration process. The registration fee is $10 and covers a light lunch, refreshments and a special commemorative souvenir. The Westport Friends Meeting, the Westport Women's Club and the Westport Grange are providing support for these events.

The organizations that are sponsoring these events include the Westport Historical Society, the Dartmouth Historical and Arts Society, the New Bedford Historical Society, and the Westport and Dartmouth Historical Commissions.

Paul Cuffe Day schedule

Saturday, Sept. 16

• 8:30–9 a.m., Registration and coffee at Macomber Community House, 930 Main Road, Westport

Morning Program

Westport Friends Meeting House, 938 Main Road

• 9:15–9:45, Welcome

• 9:15–9:20, Jenny O’Neill, Executive Director, Westport Historical Society

• 9:20–9:25, Lee Blake, president, New Bedford Historical Society

• 9:25–9:30, Paul Cuffe Day announcements, Senator Michael Rodrigues, Representative Paul Schmid, Selectman Brian Valcourt

• 9:30–9:45, Everett Hoagland, New Bedford’s first poet laureate reads his poem, “Paul Cuffe: Indian Blood, An Addendum for Negro History Calendars”

• 9:45–10:30, Keynote Address, “Paul Cuffe — A Quaker who Faithfully Followed his Calll” Vanessa Julye, Nurturing Ministries Coordinator, Ministry on Racism and Youth Ministries Programs, Friends General Conference

• 10:45–11:00, Panel discussion

•11–12:00, New Research on Cuffe’s World, his Native Heritage, and his Vision for an End to the Slave Trade in Africa
Researchers will share new revelations on Cuffe’s legacy and his impact on local and global history: Lamont Thomas, moderator, author of “Rise to be a People”; Jeffrey Fortin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Emmanuel College; Christophe Naigeon, Filmmaker and author of Liberia; Cedric Woods, Ph.D., Director of Institute for New England Native American Studies

• 12 - 1 p.m., Lunch for registered participants at Macomber Community House

Afternoon Program

Westport Grange Hall, 931 Main Road

• 1–1:45, New Revelations from Old Deeds: Identification of Cuff Slocum, Paul Cuffe, and Michael Wainer Property Holdings, David Cole, Ph.D., local historian; Richard Gifford, J.D., local historian; Betty Slade, Ph.D., local historian

• 1:45–2, break

• 2–2:45, Envisioning Cuffe: 1811–2017, An overview of the images that have been used to represent Paul Cuffe, Carl J. Cruz, local historian, New Bedford Historical Society

• 2:45–3:00, break

• 3–3:45, Family ties: Presentation on the Genealogy of the Cuffe and Wainer Families, Richard Gifford, J.D., local historian; R. Andrew Pierce, who with Dr. Jerome D. Segel, has co-authored The Wampanoag Genealogical History of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Vol I and Wampanoag Families of Martha’s Vineyard the Wampanoag Genealogical History of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Volume II, Part A and Part B

• 3:45–4:30, Native American Ceremony and Wreath Laying at the graves of Paul and Alice Cuffe behind Macomber Community House

• 4:30, Inaugural bus tour of African American Native American Trail with guides (boarding bus at north entrance to Macomber Community House

• 5:30, Return to Macomber Community House.

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