Our History Matters: Phillis Wheatley
On Being Brought from Africa to America
‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
“Their colour is a diabolic die,”
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refined and join the angelic train.
— Phillis Wheatley, 1773
In 1773 all the Colonies held African Americans as slaves. Brought to the colonies on slave ships from Africa, they were sold at auction to the highest bidder. Slaves were also held in other countries including England at the time. In an amazing contradiction, the colonists are talking about freedom from England and a lot are even struggling with thinking about how they were holding people in slavery.
Phillis Wheatley was born around 1753 in West Africa. She was sold by a village chief to a visiting slave trader. She was brought to Boston on the slave ship “Phillis” in 1761. She was about 8 or 9 years old when she was purchased by John Wheatley. She became a house servant for his wife Susanna and his daughter Mary. They gave her the name Phillis (After the Ship) and their surname of Wheatley.
They immediately realized she was very smart and taught her how to read and write. They introduced her to religion, the Bible and Christianity. After she began reading and writing they encouraged her to write poetry. She received an unparalleled education for an enslaved person and a woman of that time. She published her first poem in 1767 in a Boston paper.
The leaders of Boston became concerned because an enslaved African American woman was publishing poetry. They were worried that she wasn’t the one actually writing it and that it may be a fraud. The town leaders assembled a panel and interviewed her and the Wheatly family. They determined that she was the actual author of the poetry. A wonderfully talented young woman.
At the age of 20 she was taken to London with the Wheatly family where they believed it would be easier to have her poetry published in a book. In 1773 her first book was published called “Poems on Various Subjects”. It was a big hit and was sold in England and America. She became the most famous African American woman at that time.
On January 29th of this year, the United States Post Office issued a new Forever Stamp to honor Phillis Wheatley. It was introduced in Boston and has an image of her. It is part of the Black Heritage Stamp Series. It commemorates her legacy as the first Female African-American poet to publish a book in the United States. Go by the Post Office and purchase a set of her stamps to honor her as we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of our Independence.
–by T.J. Cox
