You Can Make a Difference

In history class we were learning about people who stood up against slavery. Phillis Wheatley was one of the first people who had the courage to do this. I read an article online called "Phillis Wheatley: A Biography" which talks about the hardships she went through to become who she was.

 

She was kidnapped and brought to America to work as a slave. She was eight at the time. Not only was she lucky enough to survive the horrible slave ship, but she was lucky enough to be placed in the hands of a nice slave owner.

An example of a slave ship.

 

 

John Wheatley bought her to be a slave for his wife. Phillis stayed at the side of John’s wife Susanna all the time. Susanna soon noticed how intelligent she was, so she decided to teach her how to read and write. By the time Phillis was eight she was very interested in poetry, and published her first poem. Her first poem was On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin.

 

 

Phillis continued to grow interested in poetry. By the time she was twelve she had a published poetry book. It was called Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. When she published her work people could no longer ignore her or her work. Phillis became the first African-American poet, and the third American female poet.

 

 

After her book was published she traveled to London to promote her poetry. While she was gone both Susanna and John died. This devastated Phillis, but she never stopped writing poetry.

 

 

All of her poetry was about how awful and cruel slavery was. This shows you the courage that she must of had. She was an African- American slave who wrote about what she believed in. People began to agree with her. She changed many people’s view of slavery because she was a slave herself. Although she was never treated like a slave, she knew what it felt like to be owned. That feeling cannot feel good for anyone. She made people see that African-Americans are real people too.

 

This relates directly back to our history 9 class because we spent time in class on racial based slavery, and the people who stood up against it. Phillis was one of these courageous people.

Biography:
"Phillis Wheatley." 2014. The Biography Channel website. Mar 26 2014, 03:44 http://www.biography.com/people/phillis-wheatley-9528784.

"Phillis Wheatley." 12-18-2013. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Mar. 26 2014, 4:07. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/641615/Phillis-Wheatley
 
Pictography:
"Slave ship". Sketch. Hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu. http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/SlaveTrade/collection/large/Sulivan3.JPG


"Phillis Wheatley". Sketch. www.parlemagazine.com.
http://www.parlemagazine.com/images/stories/phillis%20wheatley.jpg

"Poems on Various Subjects". Picture. historyofmassachusetts.org   http://historyofmassachusetts.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Phillis-Wheatley-as-illustrated-by-Scipio-Moorhead-in-the-Frontispiece-to-her-book-Poems-on-Various-Subjects-circa-1773.jpg