An Examination of the 

Authenticity of Phyllis Wheatley

By Anna Schmidt

In “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (1773), Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784) calls herself a pagan in need of conversion. She says that Africans are “black as Cain,” making reference to the biblical story of Cain who was cursed by God for killing his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8-12). Wheatley’s claim that she was living in darkness and as a pagan while in Africa stands in contrast with her contemporary, John Wesley (1730-1791), a Christian missionary and founder of the Methodist church. In Thoughts Upon Slavery (1774) Wesley writes that the people he met in Africa were “far from being the stupid, senseless, brutish, lazy barbarians, the fierce, cruel, perfidious savages they have been described.” On the contrary, he describes them as “eminently civil and courteous,” “just and honest in their dealings,” and “generally practicing…justice, mercy, and truth.”

As to the Christian conversion of Africans, Wheatley’s beliefs coincide with Cotton Mather’s (1663-1728) Rules for the Society of Negroes (1693). In these rules, Mather, a Puritan minister, insists that Negroes convert to Christianity and attend church services every week. Similarly, Wheatley claims that all Africans need a Savior. Wheatley’s religious beliefs are surprising when compared with the Ifá religion that was common in West Africa. 

According to Fatunmbi’s Oshun: Ifá and the Spirit of the River, Ifá “refers to a religious tradition, an understanding of ethics, a process of spiritual transformation and a set of scriptures that are the basis for a complex system of divination.” If this religion was a foundation for societies in West Africa, it is unlikely that Wheatley would have accepted Christianity so readily.

The authenticity of Wheatley’s poetry has been questioned since the earliest publication of her poems. In 1816, Wheatley was mockingly called “the muse of poetry” by Governor Enoch Lincoln (1788-1829) in his Appendix to The Village: A Poem. Recently, in “A Critic at Large: Phillis Wheatley on Trial” (2003), scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. addresses the first trial of Wheatley’s veracity in 1772. 

According to Gates, one of the men present at this trial was Reverend Mather Byles, a poet and Cotton Mather’s nephew. Gates does not state the significance of him being present in the trial, but he is an important figure in Wheatley’s trial. After examining the trials that Wheatley’s poetry has undergone in the past and present, Gates writes that Wheatley did author her poetry and that people should read her “with all the resourcefulness that she herself brought to the craft.”

In “The Triumphs and Travails of Phyllis Wheatley” (2003), Lucas Morel comments on Gates’ essay. Morel remarks that Gates did not offer an interpretation of Wheatley’s poetry itself, preferring instead to give an account of her life. Morel claims that “On Being Brought from Africa to America” has an ironic tone. He says that Wheatley did not consider Africa a pagan land, but actually, she wanted her readers to see the truth about how white Americans viewed Africa.

In contrast to the opinions of Gates and Morel, Professor Arthur Graham argues in Subliminal Racism (2005) that Wheatley never existed. He claims that white American men created Wheatley “to demonstrate the benefits of slavery both to master and to slave” (91). He continues by saying that “Phillis becomes a sort of blind faith lover of her masters and her masters’ religion” (94). To support his argument, Graham explains that there were no black eyewitnesses who came into contact with Wheatley (86-7).

Graham’s argument is further supported by Sonia Sanchez’s “The Poet as a Creator of Social Values” (1985). Sanchez claims that a poet has the power “to create, preserve or destroy social values.” She also calls Wheatley an “accomodational” poet because her poems reflect the religious values of white American men. Sanchez says that Wheatley had to write that way in order to survive, for “survival often meant pretended or affected agreement with reality as written by the master.” In light of this, it is easy to understand Graham’s claim that Wheatley was created to uphold the social values of white America.

Additionally, Wheatley fits into the category of contemporary mythology. In “The Meanings of ‘Myth’ in Modern Criticism” (1953), Wallace W. Douglas quotes the idea that “the myth helps [people] in their beliefs…[and] satisfies a desire or a need.” Along Graham’s line of reasoning, Wheatley is a myth created to defend slavery and promote Christianity. Graham calls Wheatley a “Negro cipher” whose purpose is to advance conversion.

It is interesting to note the discrepancies that exist when comparing “On Being Brought from Africa to America” to writings by Wheatley’s contemporaries. For example, the question remains: What is Wheatley’s self-identity when juxtaposed with Wesley’s perspective of African culture? In light of writings by her contemporaries and recent scholars, there is a possibility that Wheatley’s poetry is not authentic.