Phillis Wheatley Research Paper

At the age of eight a young women by the name of Phillis Wheatley, who would eventually become one of America’s most controversial African-American poets, was brought to America from Africa. She was born in Senegal sometime in 1753 and once she was finally brought to Boston, Massachusetts, on a slave ship, she was bought by a white family. The father of that white family, John Wheatley, bought Philis so she could serve as a personal servant to his wife. Luckily for her, this white family educated her and soon afterwards she was fluent in both Latin and Greek, and was moving on to writing advanced poetry, which was due to the support from her white owners. Wheatley did not write about cruel experiences or create racial poetry based on black culture, but instead wrote about being against slavery, faith, and tolerance, which people enjoyed. By this time, having spent most of her lifetime in America and white society, she had learned to accept their
Her mindset is more like that of a white person, since she was very young when she arrived here, and was able to adjust to the American’s way of life. This means that she was separating away from her black culture and entering the white culture. In a way, one can say that she was just a darkened white person. Although, physically she is black, and there is no argument with that, her culture was starting to become more white, meaning she was writing like a white poet. For example, in her poem “On Being Brought From Africa to America” Wheatley clearly accepts the white culture by writing “... Negros, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train” (7-8). Another example is present in her, mostly white religion themed poem, “An Hymn to the Evening,” where she praises the lord for another day of life, “The living temples of our God below. Fill'd with the praise of him who gives the light.”