Phillis Wheatley: The Forgotten Revolutionary The poetry and literature of the American Revolution is some of the most well known, but have you ever heard of Phillis Wheatley? Phillis Wheatley was a successful poet and an unlikely revolutionary. As a black woman who began her career as a slave, Wheatley cleared hurdles and broke rules on a daily basis. Wheatley was born in Gambia, around 1753. She was kidnapped and brought to America by slave ship when she was 7 or 8 years old. In Boston, she was purchased by the Wheatleys, a wealthy local family. She lived and worked the rest of her life in Boston, even after she was freed. She died in Boston on December 5th, 1784 after a life laden with poetry and unlikely success. Wheatley showed white …show more content…
Not only did she do it, but she was recognized by George Washington, one of the best known and most respected founding fathers and the first president of the United States. Wheatley sent a poem from her first published collection called “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” published in 1773 in which she wrote “A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine, With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! Be thine.”. George Washington actually responded, and invited her to meet him if she was ever in Cambridge, and she accepted. They spoke for 30 minutes, but what they said was not recorded for privacy reasons. But this was no easy feat for Phillis. It was quite challenging to find a publisher that would accept a black woman. So challenging in fact, that Phillis and Susanna could not find one in America and instead found one in London. She also probably faced a lot of backlash and not as many supporters as we would like to think. In “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, (1768) by Phillis Wheatley illustrates the blatant racism and criticism she faced: “Some view our sable race with scornful eye,” she wrote ‘Their colour is a diabolic die.’” This demonstrates the way she was mistreated and looked down on despite her remarkable talent and intelligence. If she had been a white man, she would probably be constantly …show more content…
Phillis Wheatley gave whites and men a perfect example of an intelligent black woman and a new perspective about what they were capable of. She changed the opinion of many just by existing and succeeding. All of the sudden people were hearing of a smart black woman who was in the company of George Washington, and whether they thought she should or shouldn't do that, now they knew she could. Wheatley expresses how she feels about oppression and equality in a letter written in 1774, "in every human breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance." Not only did she break stereotypes and prove many wrong, but she gave young black women proper representation. When a population that has been constantly put down sees someone who looks like them doing amazing things, it does a lot for their confidence and inspires them to do the same. Wheatley also gave Americans today a rare perspective of the revolution that most don’t usually hear about. It’s very fortunate that her work was so well documented between all her letters and poems, because the majority of our knowledge of the revolution is from the white
Before slavery was abolished it was uncommon for African-Americans to read and write, much less for a slave to become a published writer. It was even more uncommon for the writer to be female. But neither of those things stopped Phillis Wheatley. Wheatley is born a slave in Africa and brought over on a ship called the Phillis which is her namesake. She is also given her slave owners’ last name.
She would write the well known Observations on the New Constitution about this, which would go on to influence the writers of the Bill of Rights. Although she did this, her and her family were being considered “old-fashioned” and them to be shunned by the
She published many great poems regarding the B.A.M and she won many awards for her work including Woman of the Year from Ladies Home Journal. She also appeared multiple times on television and attended speaking engagements. She then went on to become a professor at College Mount St. Joseph and Virginia Tech University. The analysis of the poem
The reader can express from the novel that Phillis Wheatley was a lucky slave that her slavery gave her life a big turnaround. Phillis Wheatley gain the title of being the first African American that became a poet, she was kidnapped at the short age of seven to be sold to a wealthy family in the Boston slave auction in 1761 and later was brought to America. Phillis had the chance to receive an education due to Susannah Wheatley, Phillis was taught to read and write as well as being able to know the Bible. She was a smart child that took advantage of her slavery and took advantage of every opportunity she had to write about freedom, slavery and religion through her writings in poetry. For her it was the voice of expression she had of being able
In some of the works that Phillis Wheatley created she does not directly criticize slavery in her poetry she only accepts that it exists. In her poem On Being Brought from Africa to America she acknowledges that racism exist in America she states “Some view our sable race with scornful eye,” (Para 5) this reflects how people viewed slaves as being subhuman. As Wheatley continues to the next line stating “Their colour is a diabolic die." (Para 6) using quotation marks this shows an elaboration on her point that there are negative societal views on black people. I feel the reason she wrote this way is in the eighteenth century people did not view Africans as human beings they were seen as being creatures.
Abigail Adams helped start off everything for women, and men thinking about women’s rights and roles in a country that had been founded on the ideals of equality and independence for women. She was a very important women because without her women probably wouldn't get the respect they get today. This is why I feel like she is so till this day because she built and fought for women from the ground up. She was born on November, 22nd 1744 in Weymouth Massachusetts a farm community 15 miles of Boston. Her family lived in the colonies for several generations and established more in the society.
Susan B. Anthony was born into a Quaker family, with the hope that everyone would one day be treated equal. She denied a chance to speak at a temperance convention because she was a woman(Susan B. Anthony). From this point on, she knew that she needed to make a change. Susan B. Anthony, because of her intense work involving women 's’ rights, highly influenced all of the societies and beliefs that were yet to come. She employed a huge role in our history because of the fact that she advocated for women’s rights, for the integration of women in the workforce, and for the abolition of slavery.
The Life of the Slave Writer How does one individual mold a voice for the entire black nation within the written word? Phillis Wheatley is born in 1753 as an African American. Due to being black she has been born into an cruel life with no merit and no liberty. As a result of this, she experienced many endeavors in her childhood life that many children could not envision, and she wanted to create an alteration in the history of the blacks. Phillis Wheatley was one of the greatest and most inspiring poets of the seventeenth century.
She felt strongly that it was the black writers responsibility to accurately portray black
Truth was an influential woman whose legacy of feminism and racial equality still resonates today. Three significant themes represent Sojourner Truth's life: abolition, evangelism, and women’s rights activist. Sojourner Truth was born approximately 1797 in Ulster County, New York. The daughter of James and Betsey, her name was initially “Isabella.” She spent the first thirty years of her life as a slave owned by Colonel Ardinbirgh.
The American Revolutionary war was a huge event for not only America, but the world. There were heroes and there were people who were against certain things. One person who was considered as a hero of this time was female Sybil Ludington. According to National Women's History Museum website, “Sybil Ludington is the female counterpart to the more famous Paul Revere.” According to notes, “Sybil Ludington is considered a hero because of her action of warning Putnam and Dutchess counties to warn the militia that British troops were burning Danbury, Connecticut”.
Susan B. Anthony (Susan Brownell Anthony) Susan B. Anthony was a prominent feminist author who started the movement of women’s suffrage and she was also the president of the National American Women Suffrage Association. Anthony was in favor of abolitionism as she was a fierce activist in the anti-slavery movement before the civil war. Susan Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts, and before becoming a famous feminist figure, she worked as a teacher. Anthony grew up in a Quaker family that made her spend her time working on social causes. And her father was an owner of a local cotton mill.
This was partly because she was a black woman writing about very high profile events and issues of the time period. She presents the ideas of the freedom of woman and then many of the same concepts as Hughes did in his writing. She contemplated racial identity and the cultural differences but came to the same conclusion as Hughes did in saying that different cultural activates did not make them different from other races. In her short story “How it Feels to be Colored Me” there are many passages that portray her work as a whole and capture the voice of the black community “I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mothers side was not an Indian Chief”(Hurston 2124). The very first lines in this piece by her definitely resonate her opinionated voice.
They each used their writing as means of expressing their interest in social change in the pursuit of equality. While each woman advocated for different messages, their similarity lies in the fact that they both actively used their creative processes to speak their minds to the fullest extent. For instance, Wheatley uses her writing to express the injustices posed against African-Americans of her time. While she does not directly address slavery, she points out the inequality and separation between whites and blacks and the negative prejudices white people hold. Wheatley addresses the issue by saying, “Some view our sable race with scornful eye, / ‘Their colour is a diabolic die,’”
Her tragedy reflects not only the sexism in the African American families in early 20th century, but also the uselessness