A rare letter by Wilson Armistead with news of his trip to the United States, his ongoing interest in Paul Cuffe, and criticisms of his fellow Quakers.
Like many Quakers before him, Wilson Armistead (1819-1868) became interested in the abolition of the slave trade. Armistead’s interest was deeper than most and in 1848 he published A Tribute for the Negro, a compendium of 150 biographies of people of African descent including Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Cinque, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Phillis Wheatley, and Ignatius Sancho.
Here Armistead writes to Silvanus Thompson respecting the whaler, abolitionist and businessman Paul Cuffe (1759-1817). The son of Coffe Slocum, a freedman from West Africa, and Ruth Moses, a Wampanoag woman, he amassed a fortune through his whaling business. Later he became involved in Black emigration to Sierra Leone and made two trips to Africa, the first in 1811, then second in 1815. In 1840, Armistead published a pamphlet titled Memoir of Paul Cuffe, Man of Colour. Compiled from Authentic Sources. A decade later, Armistead’s interest in Cuffe was still evident. He writes here having just spent three months in the United States:
“I should also be glad to see to the [letter] from P[aul].C[uffe] to which thou alludes which I would return promptly. I made several enquiries respecting P[aul].C[uffe]. on the other side but to no purpose; his descendants appear to be scattered and little known by Friends. If the latter had done their part faithfully we should have many Paul Cuffes among us.”
He continued to make observations: “The Coloured class are in a most degraded condition in America, & prejudice is strong against them everywhere. I am writing out a few particulars to thee.” And then back to the Quakers, “I think James Bowden’s History of the Fr[ien]ds in America will be a very interesting work - there are sad division in America now - 5 distinct bodies bearing the name of Friends.”
Three years after he wrote this letter, he founded the Leeds Antislavery Society in 1853, which was one of the few to admit women. He contributed to the Antislavery Advocate and he hosted a number of prominent American abolitionists including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison.
