Cuffee

Not to be confused with Coffee, Cuffee (Jamaica), Cuffe, Coffy (person), or Koffee.
Cuffee
Cuffey Coffey
Current regionUnited States and Jamaica
EtymologyKofi (born on Friday)
Place of origin Ashanti
Empire of Ashanti

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]

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. ^ 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. ^ 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. ^ Speech to the United States Senate, May 7, 1860
  4. ^ Joseph Boskin (1988). Sambo: The Rise & Demise of an American Jester. Oxford University Press. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-0-19-505658-7.