An African Prince is resurrected in Newark, NJ
When the enslaver and slave ship captain John Newton encountered violent turbulence at sea, he called on God to help save the ship. Thereafter, he revitalized his faith and turned to an Anglican minister, after which he penned the epic Christian hymn “Amazing Grace” in appreciation and gratitude to God.
Many slave merchants and slave owners saw nothing wrong, religious or otherwise, with subjugating other humans, especially Africans. To them it was solely a “supply and demand” economic venture. And the supply lines were bursting at the seams along the coast of Africa where “merchandise” was readily available.
Africans would sell or trade their fellow Africans for guns and other European goods through inter-ethnic conflicts and/or wars, or simply seize innocent citizens on the street. Many were unable to redeem their family members who had been pawned as human collateral.
And then there were those who gave themselves up unwillingly but voluntarily to third parties in wartime, when defeat and possible death stared them in the face. Only the strong would make it alive through the inhuman and torturous journey across the Atlantic to the Americas.
Cudjo Bakwante, an Akyem Abuakwa prince/royal in the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) ended up in Newark, New Jersey, in the eighteenth century through one of the aforementioned routes. He was enslaved by the Benjamin Coe family.
State and local historians say that Cudjo Bakwante (known during his time in bondage as Jack Cudjo) served in the U.S. Revolutionary War, deputized for his master Benjamin Coe.
He’s known to have fought in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777, was at the retreat in Valley Forge with General George Washington, defended Elizabethtown Point (present day Elizabeth) in 1778, fought in the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778, and attacked the British in Paulus Hook (present-day Jersey City) in 1779.
He also took part in the General Sullivan expedition and was part of the almost 10,000 soldiers who embarked on a 14-week, 680-mile trek for the final battle in Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.
Cudjo came back home to continue to serve his master’s household. He was probably freed by the 1784 New Jersey legislation that freed all enslaved war veterans who fought in the war, whether as Loyalists or as Patriots.
It was after his manumission that Cudjo insisted on his bonafide name – Cudjo Bakwante – and royal blood. In 1794, he was given an acre of land by the Coe family in a high-end Newark neighborhood.
Cudjo built a house and went into the horticultural/floral business, cultivating exotic and rare plants that he sold to wealthy Newarkers. His floral business, without doubt, was expansive and beautiful, because “Cudjo’s Garden” was reflected as a landmark and in the deeds of next-door neighbors.
He became a businessman of substance.
Cudjo Bakwante was obviously not the only Black businessman and certainly not the wealthiest during that era; however, the late Newark historian Charles F. Cummings, in a February 2000 article in New Jersey’s Star Ledger, wrote: “Of the 18 financially substantial blacks included in the 1821 listing, Cudjo is the one about whom we know most. He was officially the first black man from Newark to emerge as a businessman in the earliest days of the 18th century.”
His exploits in the war and social prominence might have contributed to his respect and dignity in the community.
Joseph Atkinson, who published his work History of Newark in 1878, observed, “While First Church had amongst its members the brightest and most aggressive young men’ around Trinity were grouped many of the prosperous citizens, men of affairs of most estimable character.” Cudjo Bakwante was a communicant at the Trinity Church.
Articles about Jack Cudjo were few and far between until Kofi Ayim, editor of Amandla, a New Jersey–based community newspaper, published his maiden book Jack Cudjo: Newark’s Revolutionary Soldier and First Black Businessman in 2011.
The book inspired the New Jersey Morristown Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in collaboration with some individuals and stakeholders, to organize a marathon project to honor Cudjo Bakwante.
Starting with a documentary screening of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution at the Newark Public Library on April 19, the nine-day-or-so program included an Adinkra Workshop at the New Jersey Historical Society, an exhibition at the Newark Museum of Arts, a Genealogy Workshop at the Newark Public Library, a two-day Academic Symposium themed Revolution to Reparations at Rutgers University’s Newark campus, Guided Bus Tours, and a grand finale of unveiling a marker in honor of Cudjo Bakwante on the forecourt of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on May 3, 2025.
The journey of Cudjo Bakwante – from his place of birth to his place of death – is one of resiliency, tactfulness, and a courage to survive. Kofi Ayim’s book has brought the story of one man’s exploits – trials, tribulations and triumph – back to life. How many more of such stories are begging to be unearthed and told?
Kofi Ayim’s book, JACK CUDJO. NEWARK’S REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER & FIRST BLACK BUSINESSMAN is available at kofiayim.com
Event video at https://kofiayim.com/pages/press-interviews