[or Cuffee]. American negro philanthropist, born of free parents at Westport, MA, in 1759; died on the 7th of September 1818. When but fifteen years old his father died, and Paul was thrown upon his own resources. He first learned to read and write, and then applied himself to the study of navigation. In a few years he amassed considerable wealth, which he devoted to the amelioration of his race. He built a schoolhouse at Westport, maintained a teacher at his own expense, and opened it for the free instruction of his neighbors. He became closely identified with the efforts to found a colony of free negroes in Africa, and in 1811 visited Sierra Leone, where he founded the “Friendly Society of Sierra Leone.” From there he sailed to England. On his return to America he collected a company of thirty-eight negroes, whom he carried to Sierra Leone in 1815, and founded the first colony of free blacks. He was a member of the Society of Friends, which he joined when a young man.
