Scipio Vaughan

Omoba
Scipio Vaughan
Bornc. 1784
Owu Kingdom
Died1840
Camden, South Carolina, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Slave, artisan
Spouse
Maria Theresa Louisa Matilda Conway
​
​
(m. 1815)​
Children9 (possibly up to 13)[1]
FamilyVaughan family

Scipio Vaughan (c. 1784–1840) was an African-American artisan and slave[2] who inspired a "back to Africa" movement among some of his offspring to connect with their roots in Africa, specifically the Yoruba of West Africa in the early 19th century.[3] After gaining his freedom, he spent the latter part of his life in the United States and started the movement with his immediate family members in his final moments. Several generations of Scipio's descendants are dispersed across three continents where they mostly live or lived,[4] except for occasional cousin reunions, which includes people from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Tanzania in Africa; Jamaica and Barbados in the Caribbean; the United States and Canada in North America; and the United Kingdom in Europe.[5][6][7][8]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ebony was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Robert Johnson Jr. (2011). Fighting for Africa: The Pan-African Contributions of Ambassador Dudley J. Thompson and Bill Sutherland. University Press of America. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-761-8479-22.
  3. ^ Johanna Garfield (1991). Cousins: How Those Magical Siblings Can Change and Enrich Your Life. Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-556-1127-13.
  4. ^ Plummer, Brenda Gayle (2013). In Search of Power: African Americans in the Era of Decolonization, 1956-1974. Cambridge University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-107-0229-97.
  5. ^ Lisa A. Lindsay; John Wood Sweet (2013). Biography and the Black Atlantic (The Early Modern America). University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-812-2087-02.
  6. ^ David Olusegun Oladele (2000). A Life for Freedom and Service: Dr. James Churchill Omosanya Vaughan (1893-1937). Indiana University (Options Book and Information Services). ISBN 9789783507227.
  7. ^ Lisa A. Lindsay (2016). Atlantic Bonds: A Nineteenth-Century Odyssey from America to Africa (H. Eugene and Lillian Youngs Lehman Series. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469631134.
  8. ^ Peter Kerr (June 28, 1982). "600 'Cousins' Meet to Celebrate Roots". The New York Times. Retrieved January 18, 2018.