On Being Brought From Africa to America”
And Other Writings of Phillis Wheatley
BACKGROUND ON PHILLIS WHEATLEY
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Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley was the author of the first book of poetry by an African American, published in
London in 1773. Prior to the book's debut, her first published poem, "On Messrs Hussey and Coffin,"
appeared in 1767 in the Newport Mercury. In 1770, her elegy on the death of George Whitefield, a
celebrated evangelical Methodist minister who had traveled through the American colonies, drew
international attention and the particular interest of Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon.
Whitefield had been the Countess's personal chaplain. Wheatley published numerous individual
poems in addition to her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, but a proposed
second volume of poetry never appeared, and the manuscript was lost after her death in 1784.
Her Early Life
Born in West Africa about 1753, Wheatley was named for the slave ship, the Phillis, that brought her
to Boston on 11 July 1761, and the Wheatley family who purchased her from the slave trader John
Avery. John Wheatley was a prominent Boston merchant with a wholesale business, real estate,
warehouses, wharfage, and the schooner London Packet. Susannah Wheatley was an ardent
Christian and admirer of George Whitefield. A frail child between seven and eight years old, Phillis was
chosen to be a domestic servant and companion to Mrs. Wheatley in her later years. Although she
spoke no English upon her arrival in this country, she soon proved to be a precocious learner, and was
tutored by the Wheatley's daughter Mary in English, Latin, history, geography, religion, and the Bible in
particular. She was treated more as a member of the family than a servant or slave, and her
education was that of a young woman in an elite Boston family. She was particularly well-acquainted
with the classics, the Bible, and contemporary works, especially those of Alexander Pope, and these
influences are readily apparent in her writing.
BACKGROUND ON PHILLIS WHEATLEY
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Fame and Misfortune
Phillis's debut volume of poetry was first proposed in 1772, but this early venture
was unsuccessful, and eventually she turned to an English publisher for her Poems
on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. In May of 1773 she accompanied the
Wheatley's son Nathaniel to England, where plans for the publication had begun, but
she was called home by the illness of Mrs. Wheatley, and departed before the book
appeared in September. While she met many notables in London, she was unable to
see the Countess of Huntingdon, who was away in Wales for the summer. Shortly
after her return to Boston, Phillis was freed by her master, possibly under pressure
from her English admirers. Mrs. Wheatley died in March of 1774, and Phillis's life
from that point was plagued by ill health and an unhappy marriage. She drew up
proposals for a second volume of poetry which was never published, probably due to
wartime shortages in Boston. Her marriage in 1778 to John Peters, a free African
American living in Boston, produced three children, two of whom soon died. By 1784
she was living in a boardinghouse, and, in December of that year, she and her
remaining child died and were buried in an unmarked grave.
Massachusetts Historical Society
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 Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negro's, black as Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
Phillis Wheatley
Ode To Neptune
On Mrs. W-----'s Voyage to England.
I.
WHILE raging tempests shake the shore,
While AElus' thunders round us roar,
And sweep impetuous o'er the plain
Be still, O tyrant of the main;
Nor let thy brow contracted frowns betray,
While my Susanna skims the wat'ry way.
II.
The Pow'r propitious hears the lay,
The blue-ey'd daughters of the sea
With sweeter cadence glide along,
And Thames responsive joins the song.
Pleas'd with their notes Sol sheds benign his ray,
And double radiance decks the face of day.
III.
To court thee to Britannia's arms
Serene the climes and mild the sky,
Her region boasts unnumber'd charms,
Thy welcome smiles in ev'ry eye.
Thy promise, Neptune keep, record my pray'r,
Not give my wishes to the empty air.
Phillis Wheatley
An Answer To The Rebus, By The Author Of These Poems
THE poet asks, and Phillis can't refuse
To show th' obedience of the Infant muse.
She knows the Quail of most inviting taste
Fed Israel's army in the dreary waste;
And what's on Britain's royal standard borne,
But the tall, graceful, rampant Unicorn?
The Emerald with a vivid verdure glows
Among the gems which regal crowns compose;
Boston's a town, polite and debonair,
To which the beaux and beauteous nymphs repair,
Each Helen strikes the mind with sweet surprise,
While living lightning flashes from her eyes,
See young Euphorbus of the Dardan line
By Manelaus' hand to death resign:
The well known peer of popular applause
Is C----m zealous to support our laws.
Quebec now vanquish'd must obey,
She too much annual tribute pay
To Britain of immortal fame.
And add new glory to her name.
Phillis Wheatley
http://www.masshist.org/
Letter from Phillis
Wheatley to Mary Wooster
“A Poem of the Death of
Charles Eliot…”
“To His Honor the
Lieutenant Governor on
the death of his Lady”
“To the Right and
Honorable William, Earl of
Dartmouth…”
Reflect on one poem that
you read today that left
an impression on you.
Tell why you chose the
poem and explain how
you feel about its
message.