Cuffee Mayo

Cuffee Mayo, sometimes spelled Cuffie Mayo, (1803–1896) was a minister, laborer, and politician in North Carolina. He was a Republican.

Mayo was born free in Virginia. He moved with his family to Warren County, North Carolina by 1808. He later moved to Granville County where he worked as a blacksmith and a painter. He was African American and Granville County was home to many people had been enslaved. Mayo served two terms in the legislature.

Like many of Granville’s mixed-race people, the Mayos’ roots were deep in colonial Virginia, where the mixing of Native Americans, white colonizers, and African Americans emanated from English invaders dispossession of indigenous peoples, forced importation of Africans, and enslavement of both.

He represented Granville County in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1868. He served with fellow Granville representatives A. A. Crawford (who was also African American) and J. W. Ragland.