In late 1775, newly appointed General George Washington received a poem from one of colonial America's most famous writers.
His verses praised the rising revolution, calling upon the goddess of his new nation to aid the general in his noble cause.
But this slogan of independence was not written by some isolated, elderly devotee. Its author was a young black woman who lived in slavery for more than a decade.
The young girl, renamed Phillis Wheatley, arrived in the colonies on a slave ship in 1761.
The ship landed in Boston,
where Susanna and John Wheatley bought Phyllis to work in their house. However, for reasons that remain unclear, they also taught him to read and write.
Over the next decade, Wheatley specialized in poetry and religious writing, eventually beginning to compose his own poems.
The family published her work in a local newspaper, and in 1771, her beauty captured the public imagination for the well-known Reverend George Whitfield.
The poem's repetitive rhythms, dramatic religious references,
and soaring spiritual language showed how Whitfield's sermons "sparked the soul and captivated the mind." Wheatley concludes with an arresting image of the afterlife, with the belief that divine forces will "reanimate his dust."
This moving tribute found audiences in both America and England. And because the text was published with a note identifying the author as a slave woman, many readers were as fascinated by the poet as they were by the poem.
In 1773, Phillis traveled to London,
where her collection of "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" became the first book of poetry published by an African-American woman. It was full of profound meditations on life, death, and religion, as well as biblical and classical references.
In "A Hymn to Humanity," Wheatley connected these themes to his own creative development, portraying himself as a muse smiling at the heavenly bodies.
Not surprisingly, Wheatley had his critics.
Many white Americans believed that black people were incapable of producing intellectual and creative work.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that his writing did not even deserve to be called poetry, and others dismissed it as a poor imitation of another well-known poet.
But many readers of the time were inspired by Wheatley's work, including prominent European writers and politicians.
However, many modern readers might expect his work to cover a different topic: slavery. Wheatley rarely wrote directly about his experiences as an enslaved person.
And her poem addressing the subject has been criticized for being grateful that slavery led her to Christianity.
But it is incredibly unlikely that Wheatley would have been able to publicly denounce slavery without serious consequences. And many readers have found a more important critique hidden within his work.
Wheatley, for example,
was a vocal supporter of American independence, writing that her "love of freedom" came from her early experiences of being kidnapped into slavery and separated from her parents.
When denigrating England's imperial control, she portrays the "iron chain". And likening his lack of freedom to America's lack of freedom, Wheatley lamented his situation.
Thankfully, Wheatley regained her freedom after returning from London. The reasons for his emancipation are not entirely clear, as there is no evidence that the Wheatleys freed other slaves.
However, since Phyllis could remain free in London,
some believe she bargained to make freedom a condition of her return. It is difficult to know what happened here and in the rest of Wheatley's life.
His proposal for a second book was never published. In 1778, she married a free black man named John Peters. The two are believed to have had three children, all of whom died in infancy.
Their last child is believed to have died near Wheatley, and the two were buried together in an unmarked grave.
Although some of Wheatley's letters survive,
he never published an account of his life. So despite being perhaps the most famous African on the planet, Wheatley's story, like countless other slaves, has been lost to the ravages of history.
But his poetry lives on today—celebrating creative growth and offering spiritual sustenance.
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