The Trials of Phillis Wheatley

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

History, Books, Arts

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2020

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in the English language. It was yet another milestone in Wheatley's extraordinary life, which began with a childhood in Africa, a passage on a slave ship, twelve years in Boston living as a slave, and then her unprecedented education and emergence as a poet. She was lauded by Voltaire and Gibbon and Ben Franklin; she exchanged admiring letters with George Washington; and she exposed some of Thomas Jefferson’s highest ideals and lowest shortcomings. Her appearance as a poet was so unlikely - and such a dangerous example for pro-slavery critics - that she eventually was put on trial to establish whether she truly wrote her poems. And yet, in spite of all these accomplishments and pioneering achievements, her legacy is a complicated one, as in the words of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., she wrote what has been the most reviled poem in African American literature. How did this happen? And what does it tell us about Phillis Wheatley, her critics, her champions, and ourselves? Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate it!) Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or by following Jacke and Mike on Twitter at @thejackewilson and @literatureSC. Or send an email to [email protected]. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.
0:07.0	Hello. In 1773, she became the first person of African descent to publish a book of
0:18.8	poems in the English language. And she literally wrote her way to freedom.
0:24.0	As her success and fame as a poet inspired her owners to free her.
0:29.1	Yes, she was a slave as her name tells us.
0:31.8	Her first name Phyllis was the name of the ship she traveled on from
0:35.3	Africa to Massachusetts, while her last name, Wheatley, was the name of the family who purchased her.
0:42.4	Phyllis Wheatley had an extraordinary life, six years in Africa, a passage on a slave ship,
0:48.6	12 years in Boston, and the admiring letters with George Washington, and she exposed some of Thomas Jefferson's highest
1:05.3	ideals and lowest shortcomings.
1:08.6	She faced a trial by disbelievers with a jury composed of many of the leading white men of the day.
1:14.6	Names familiar to us even now. She's lauded by many her accomplishments
1:19.3	essential to the understanding of blacks in America schools are named after her and yet in the words
1:25.6	of Henry Lewis Gates Jr. she wrote what has been the most reviled poem in African American literature.
1:34.3	How did this happen?
1:35.6	What does any of it mean and what does it tell us about Phyllis Wheatley, her critics,
1:41.1	her champions, and ourselves.
1:43.4	We'll have all that and more today on the history of literature. Okay, here we go. I'm Jack Wilson. Welcome to the podcast, Phyllis Wheatley.
2:08.0	This is a fascinating subject, literature, and its most important, most central, most dramatic, most powerful.
2:16.6	If you ever think of literature as being on the sidelines of history, if you ever think literature
2:21.4	doesn't matter so much in the larger scheme of things and hey I share
2:25.4	that view much at the time it matters to an individual of course it can matter to a group a
	...

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