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19 pages 38 minutes read

Phillis Wheatley

On Being Brought from Africa to America

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1773

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Background

Literary Context

Considered one of the founding writers of African American literature, Phillis Wheatley’s poems are essential to the American canon. “On Being Brought from Africa to America” remains the most anthologized of her poems. As one of the first written in English to record the experience of slavery, the poem is pivotal to the developments of critical race theory and postcolonialism. It continues to be the subject of debate among scholars.

Originally written in the neoclassic period, the poem mirrors the style of its contemporaries. As a response to the emotionality of renaissance poetry, neoclassicism is more concerned with the intellect: exhibiting structures of logic and reason over sentiment. “On Being Brought from Africa to America” is not an overtly emotional poem. Instead, it explores its subject—personal enslavement—by using various facets of rationality.

For this reason, many critics emerging in the Black Power literary movements of the 1960s criticized Wheatley for her lack of emotional engagement to her enslavement. Some argue that Wheatley, given her upbringing, internalized the racism of her masters, which is referred to as Uncle Tom syndrome—a term originating from the titular character of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Such critics look to Wheatley’s use of the word “mercy” in the poem as justification for their claims.

However, other theorists—particularly those who read Wheatley from a postcolonial perspective—argue that such submissiveness is a byproduct of the dominant white culture that subjugated her. Postcolonial theory is the study of the consequences of European imperialism on native, oppressed or otherwise, colonized peoples. “On Being Brought from Africa to America” is a poem often analyzed from a postcolonial perspective in order to examine the implications slavery had on Wheatley’s identity and psyche. 

Historical Context

Phillis Wheatley was a well-known poet and one of the most famous African Americans of her time. Her work was supported by major historical figures such as George Washington, Thomas Paine, and Voltaire. Although acknowledged for her literary talents, many American colonists refused to believe that an African slave was capable of producing poetry of such quality. Prior to the publication of her book, an inquisition of Wheatley’s authorship was held in Boston in 1772. Required to defend her work in court, the poems were examined by John Hancock, John Erving, the governor of Massachusetts Reverend Charles Chauncey, Thomas Hutchinson, and other members of Boston’s elite. They concluded she had indeed written the poems and signed an attestation to her authentic authorship. The document was included within Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in England the following year. Despite the result of the inquisition, publishers in Boston still refused to accept the book for print.

Susanna Wheatley, Phillis’s mistress, believed Phillis would have more opportunities to publish her book in England. She sent Phillis, along with her son Nathaniel, to England in order to secure patronage from influential Londoners. While there, Phillis gained the support of British aristocrats the Countess of Huntington and the Earl of Dartmouth. They acted as patrons to successfully facilitate the publication of her work.

Though a published author and international celebrity, Wheatley’s literary credibility was still under scrutiny because of her race. The London Magazine wrote the following of Wheatley’s work:

[…] these poems display no astonishing works of genius, but when we consider them as the productions of a young, untutored African, who wrote them after six months careful study of the English language, we cannot but suppress our admiration for talents so vigorous and lively (The London Magazine. “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral”. 1773. P. 456).

Additionally, in his book, Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson wrote the following:

[…] misery is often the parent of the most affecting touches in poetry. Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry… Religion indeed has produced a Phillis Wheatley but it could not produce a poet. The compositions published under her name are below the dignity of criticism (Jefferson, Thomas. “Notes on the State of Virginia.” 1786. London: Printed for John Stockdale. P. 234)
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