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Phillis Wheatley That blacks were biologically and mentally inferior to whites was the classic argument employed to maintain America's slave system. Yet this thesis had been discredited time and again - perhaps none more dramatically than through the life and work of Phillis Wheatley. In 1761 a young African girl (about the age of seven) arrived in Boston on the slave ship Phillis. She was purchased by the Wheatley family to perform domestic work. Recognizing her keen intelligence, the family nurtured and tutored the child, who quickly mastered geography, history, astronomy, English, and Latin literature. Her talent for writing classically influenced poetry made her a great curiosity among the social elite and other prominent people of Boston. Phillis traveled with the Wheatley family to England, where she published her first book in 1778, entitled Poems on Various Subjects, when she was sixteen years old. Wheatley was an adamant supporter of the Patriots' cause, but vigorously condemned slavery, understanding that her life as a slave was an exception. She wrote on both subjects and may have been expressing her feelings about American independence and the institution of slavery when she penned these words: In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Freedom, It is impatient of Oppression and pants for Deliverance. I will assert the same Principle lives in us. God grant Deliverance.
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The Transatlantic Slave Trade Quiz | Resources
| Sponsors | Home Age of Exploration Make some discoveries of your own in this guide to 1000 years of maritime exploration. learn more USS Monitor: History and Legacy This Civil War ironclad was a technological marvel; explore her continuing story. learn more Chesapeake Bay: Our History and Our Future From the Powhatan Indians to modern shipbuilding, explore the character of the nation's largest estuary. learn more Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas They arrived in chains, but their contributions have forged new links in the history of the Americas. learn more Battle of the Atlantic: Allied Naval Intelligence in World War II While German U-boats wrecked havoc on merchant shipping in the Atlantic, Allied intelligence worked diligently to break the enemy's communication codes. learn more Birth of the Navy Follow the US on its journey to becoming the world's leading naval power. learn more Women and the Sea She used to remain on shore, but today, she captains the ship. learn more ![[ Navigation Bar ]](../../resources/navigation.gif){kind=small}
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