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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.
posted 20 November 2005
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Phillis Wheatley (1753 – December 5, 1784), enslaved at the age
of eight, is widely known as the first African-American woman in United
States history to have her poetry published. Constant themes in
Wheatley's poems are death, religion, and the struggle of blacks in the
U.S. Wheatley also composed many poems that are a type of tribute to
admirable figures or influential persons in her life. Wheatley traveled
to London and back, with flexibility rare to other enslaved persons, and
held an audience with the Lord Mayor of London as well as other
delegates. Wheatley's works, at the time, were respected in the realm of
literature and impressed all who did not believe a young slave could
produce such works.
Although the date and location of
her birthplace is not perfectly documented, it is believed that Phillis
Wheatley was born in 1753, somewhere in
West Africa, most likely somewhere in present-day
Gambia. Wheatley was brought to Boston, Massachusetts on July 11,
1761, on a slave ship called The Phillis, which was owned by Timothy
Finch and captained by Peter Gwinn. At the age of eight, she was sold to
wealthy Bostonian merchant and tailor John Wheatley, who bought the
young girl as a servant for his wife, Susanna. John and Susanna Wheatley
named the young girl Phillis, after the ship that had brought her to
America. Phillis began her education being tutored by the Wheatley’s
eighteen-year-old daughter, Mary. John Wheatley, known as a progressive
throughout New England, and the rest of the Wheatley family’s
open-mindedness allowed Phillis to receive an unprecedented education
for not only an enslaved person, but for a female of any race.
By the age of twelve, Phillis was
already reading Greek and Latin classics and difficult passages from the
Bible. Amazed by her literary ability, the Wheatley family made Phillis’
education an important concern, and left the household labor to the
other enslaved persons that the family owned. Influenced heavily by the
works of
Alexander Pope,
John Milton,
Homer,
Horace and
Virgil, Phillis Wheatley’s studies began to gravitate toward the
realm of poetry.—Wikipedia
* * * *
*
The Trials of Phillis Wheatley
America's
First Black Poet and Encounters with the Founding Fathers
By Henry Louis Gates Jr.
 |
Gates brings scholarly insight and a love of black
literature to this examination of how Wheatley, the
first published African American poet, has survived
the judgment of past and contemporary critics. After
her poems appeared in 1773, distinguished American
citizens (mostly white male slaveholders) set out to
determine if Wheatley, or for that matter any black
person, was capable of the higher thoughts and
emotions required to create poetry. Underlying the
debate was the humanity of blacks, the justification
for their enslavement, and the moral culpability of
the slaveholders. While Benjamin Franklin and George
Washington accepted Wheatley's talent, Thomas
Jefferson remained skeptical, shifting the focus
from the authenticity of her authorship to the
quality of her work. Generations later, black
nationalists would also focus on the ideological
quality of Wheatley's work, vilifying her as an
apologist for slavery. But in this slim, lively
volume, Gates extols Wheatley's enduring literary
significance and Jefferson's contribution to
spurring a tradition of black literature that was
first aimed at proving equality and came to signify
a black aesthetic.—Vanessa
Bush |
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
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updated 6 October 2007 |
