Phillis Wheatley

In “The Female Patriots” Griffitts is appealing to the masses that do not have the right to vote and can display their power through that of purchasing. Griffitts appeals to the more honorable approach of sending the message to England by hitting them in the purse. At this time in our history woman were not in a position of power as they are today. The decision makers rallied for violent means to an end, while the women sat dutifully in the background feeding their families. What Griffitts…

narratively explaining their personal journeys and experiences through life. In particular, the works of Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass. Of all the works of these two famous slaves, the two works that stood out the most were On Being Brought From Africa to America, by Wheatley, alongside the work My Bondage and My Freedom, by Douglass which were both similar and different for valuable reasons. Wheatley was a female African American who wrote poems, and was the first woman and African…

The African American Fight for Freedom In the early 1700s, many Africans had been abducted from their homeland, enslaved in the United States, and had no legal rights. Even once the idea of ending oppression led to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, these rights only applied to white citizens and not people of color. African-Americans during this time desired freedom and human rights above all else, and they fought valiantly during the American War for Independence for these rights. The…

of Ebenezer Wells of Deerfield, Massachusetts until 1756, when she received her freedom (19). "Bars Flight" (1746) is the earliest known formal written poem by an African American. It records a battle between whites and Indians. Haynes, Hammon and Wheatley, produced “the first significant body of African American writing, founded on revivalist rhetoric and revolutionary discourse” (Gray 33). They are considered the founders of African-American literature. Lemuel Haynes (1753–1833), influential…

The blatant hypocrisy is, in itself, self-evident; the country fighting for its own autonomy and freedom was being built upon the ravaged backs and bodies of black slaves. Phillis Wheatley, in her poem, On Being Brought from Africa to America, recognizes this irony and says, “‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,” (Wheatley 1773). The key word in the first line of the poem is “mercy”; this choice of diction is dripping with irony, considering she was stolen from her home, and her captor’s…

unofficial soldiers on raids and assassinations. “Colonel Tye” was never an officer in the British army, but became widely known, and was greatly feared, by New Jersey patriots. In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American woman, and the first slave, to publish a book of poetry. John Wheatley freed Phillis in 1773. She wrote a second book, but died before it was…

Literature in many respects is an art form, and like art is subjective in its interpretation. What one person may see as a literary classic another may view with little to no literary significance. Perhaps what makes literature so difficult to interpret is the reader must not only be willing to connect with the writer, but also understand the context in which the writer uses to express their work. Even with this understanding of literature the individual reader remains the judge, jury, and…

Writing is one of the few forms that allow the future generations to learn from and experience the mind, trials and tribulations of those from the past. To some, literature is simply books; which excludes the depths and flexibility that comes with the opportunity to write. Having the skill to gracefully expound and share eloquently through poetry and story impacts lives. Literature is a writing form used in order to give an account derived from one’s thoughts, emotions and experiences. In…

Robert Kendrick, in his article “Remembering America: Phillis Wheatley’s Intertextual Epic,” states that “the issue of race occupies a privileged position in…Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, which addresses the ‘marginalization’ at the hands of her ‘masters’, and demands attention” (Kendrick 71…

Benjamin Banneker correspondence with Benjamin Franklin is simply an extraordinary example of pose and articulation on Mr. Banneker’s behalf. The words dance off the paper as if they were performing the Waltz. The tone of this piece of writing is dripping with serious, but passionate details of Banneker’s experience with freedom; thus, embodying the spirit that once fueled the abolition of slavery. Banneker ties in multiple elements of freedom throughout the correspondence. I wanted to read…