The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers
by Henry Louis Jr Gates
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In 1773, the slave Phillis Wheatley literally wrote her way to freedom. The first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in English, she was emancipated by her owners in recognition of her literary achievement. For a time, Wheatley was the most famous black woman in the West. But Thomas Jefferson, unlike his contemporaries Ben Franklin and George Washington, refused to acknowledge her gifts as a writer--a repudiation that eventually inspired generations of black writers to show more build an extraordinary body of literature in their efforts to prove him wrong. show lessTags
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This was a book on the DAR Book Club list, and is an expanded version of a lecture the author Henry Louis Gates gave back in 2002 on the subject of poet Phillis Wheatley. Gates covers the trials of Phillis Wheatley -- several, including Founding Fathers and Thomas Jefferson -- had doubts that a young woman brought from Africa aboard a slave ship could not only learn to read and write, but compose poetry as well. Gates also delves into the changing views, both positive and negative, towards Wheatley over the years. Although this is a small volume (90 pages not including bibliography), it is big on substance.
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121+ Works 10,733 Members
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was born on September 16, 1950, in Keyser, West Virginia. He received a degree in history from Yale University in 1973 and a Ph.D. from Clare College, which is part of the University of Cambridge in 1979. He is a leading scholar of African-American literature, history, and culture. He began working on the Black Periodical show more Literature Project, which uncovered lost literary works published in 1800s. He rediscovered what is believed to be the first novel published by an African-American in the United States. He republished the 1859 work by Harriet E. Wilson, entitled Our Nig, in 1983. He has written numerous books including Colored People: A Memoir, A Chronology of African-American History, The Future of the Race, Black Literature and Literary Theory, and The Signifying Monkey: Towards a Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism. In 1991, he became the head of the African-American studies department at Harvard University. He is now the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at the university. He wrote and produced several documentaries including Wonders of the African World, America Beyond the Color Line, and African American Lives. He has also hosted PBS programs such as Wonders of the African World, Black in Latin America, and Finding Your Roots. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2010
- People/Characters
- Benjamin Franklin; Edward Gibbon; Thomas Jefferson; Voltaire "François-Marie Arouet", 1694-1778; George Washington; Phillis Wheatley
- Important events
- American Revolution
- Dedication
- For
Sharon, Maggie, and Lisa - First words
- This book is an expanded version of the Thomas Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities that I was privileged to deliver to the Library of Congress in March 2002. (Preface)
It was the primal scene of African-American letters. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Almost two and a half centuries after a schooner brought this African child to our shores, we can finally say: Welcome home, Phillis; welcome home.
Classifications
- Genres
- Literature Studies and Criticism, Biography & Memoir, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 811.1 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American poetry Colonial 1607–1776
- LCC
- PS866 .W5 .Z595 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors Colonial period (17th and 18th centuries)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 168
- Popularity
- 194,266
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.77)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 4
