Paul Cuffee School / Rosalind C. Wiggins Fund

“She was a lifelong crusader for everyone’s rights, but particularly for the rights of African Americans,” says Stan Cobb, remembering his late mother Rosalind “Posy” Cobb Wiggins, whose books by and about African Americans form the core of the first named collection in Paul Cuffee School’s library.

It was an easy choice for Mrs. Wiggins’ four children to donate the books to Paul Cuffee, a Providence charter school their mother adopted and that, in turn, embraced her. In fact, Mrs. Wiggins was the school’s first Paul Cuffee Day speaker. Cuffee, an early 19th century Quaker and Black merchant, was the subject of Mrs. Wiggins 1996 book, Captain Paul Cuffe's Logs and Letters, 1808-1817: A Black Quaker's 'Voice from within the Veil’. An artist, teacher, and social activist, Mrs. Wiggins discovered Paul Cuffee while working as archivist for the Rhode Island Black Historical Society.

The Fund already has had a multiplier effect at Cuffee. In the summer of 2008, the school received one of only three worldwide Coretta Scott King review book grants, adding 140 books to the collection.

“We wanted to be sure this was a living collection,” notes Professor Cobb, who has followed in his mother’s footsteps at Cuffee. Emeritus professor of marine biology at URI, he sees natural connections between the only maritime charter school in the state and the University. He recently arranged for two graduate student interns in ichthyology to teach a unit on codfish to the sixth grade.

“I think I hear her every day,” says Professor Cobb of his late mother, who lived her last years at Laurelmead and recruited many residents as Cuffee volunteers. “This is something that was so ingrained in her I can imagine she would say, ‘Of course, dear, that is what you should be doing.’”

Cuffee Development Director Julia Karahalis explains why the Fund has a home at the Foundation. “Our donors value your reputation,” she notes. “Your outstanding fund management, stewardship, and presence in the community were all factors we considered when bringing the Fund here.”

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