1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,319 Speaker 1: a show that strives to know at least a little 4 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: more history every day. I'm Gay Bluzier and today we're 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: talking about Phyllis Wheatley, one of the first prominent African 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,919 Speaker 1: American poets and a catalyst for the early anti slavery movement. 7 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 1: The day was October seventeen seventy three. The renowned poet 8 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 1: Phyllis Wheatley was freed from slavery. She had recently returned 9 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,480 Speaker 1: to Boston after traveling to London with her master's son 10 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: to publish her first book of poems. Her manumission or 11 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: release from slavery was likely due to pressure from her 12 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: British admirers, who founded a hauling that she was denied 13 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 1: her freedom even as she was celebrated for her genius. 14 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: Phyllis Wheatley had been stolen from her home in West 15 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: Africa when she was about seven years old. Her original 16 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,919 Speaker 1: African name is unknown, but she came to be called 17 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: Phillis after the slave ship that took her to America. 18 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: She was brought to Boston as part of a group 19 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: of enslaved people who were considered too young, old, or 20 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: sickly to be suited for farm labor in the southern colonies. 21 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: In August of seventeen sixty one, Phyllis was bought by 22 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: Susannah Wheatley, the wife of a prominent Boston merchant named 23 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: John Wheatley. The captain of the slave ship, sold the 24 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: frail young girl at a low price, believing she was 25 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: terminally ill and that he shouldn't make whatever profit he 26 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: could before she died. Susannah Wheatley used Phillis as a 27 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: domestic servant, but quickly realized the girl was extremely intelligent. 28 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: From then on, the Wheatlies encouraged Phillis to learn how 29 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: to read and write. She was excused from most of 30 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: her household duties, and Susannah, with help from her own 31 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: daughter Mary, began to tutor the girl and everything from 32 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: religion to literature to history. By the time she turned twelve, 33 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: Phillis could read not just English, but Greek and Latin 34 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: as well. Two years later, in seventeen sixty seven, she 35 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: published her first poem in the Newport Mercury newspaper. It 36 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: was titled on Messrs Hussy and coffin, and was written 37 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: as an ode to sailors who had narrowly survived a 38 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: deadly storm. The two men named in the title had 39 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: been dinner guests at the Wheatlies home, and Phillis overheard 40 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: their tale of survival while tending table for them. Three 41 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: years later, Phillis achieved international fame when she wrote a 42 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: moving elegy of Baptist preacher George Whitefield, the leader of 43 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 1: the religious revival known as the First Great Awakening. Buoyed 44 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: by the positive response to her work and encouraged by 45 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: the Wheatlies, Phillis devoted herself to poetry. Over the next 46 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: couple of years, she assembled a manuscript containing twenty eight 47 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: original poems. Then, in February of seventeen seventy two, she 48 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: and Susannah Wheatley posted advertisements in Boston newspapers, hoping to 49 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: attract subscribers for her first book of poetry. Unfortunately, the 50 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: literate colonists of Boston were unwilling to pay for the 51 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: writing of an African girl. They would concede her talent 52 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: and enjoy her work when it came free as part 53 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: of their newspaper, but paying an enslaved person for their 54 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: labor was strictly out of the question. Discouraged by their neighbors, 55 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: Phillis and the Wheatlies decided to serve for a publisher 56 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: on the other side of the Atlantic. In May of 57 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy three, Phillis and the Wheatley's son Nathaniel, left 58 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: on a ship to London. The poet was in poor 59 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: health due to chronic asthma, but she received a warm 60 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: reception from dignitaries and other members of the British aristocracy 61 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: who adored her work. During her time in London, Phillis 62 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: met Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntington's and a friend 63 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: of Susanna Wheatley. Several months later, the Countess funded the 64 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:40,360 Speaker 1: publication of Phillis's book, Poems on Various subjects, religious and moral. 65 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: The book was released with rave reviews in late seventeen 66 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,720 Speaker 1: seventy three, shortly after Phillis traveled back to Boston with 67 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,160 Speaker 1: a promise from Nathaniel that she would soon be granted 68 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 1: her freedom. Has mentioned earlier, the decision to free her 69 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: was likely due in part to the aathing articles that 70 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,160 Speaker 1: had been written about the Wheatlies during their time in England. 71 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: Whatever the reason, Nathaniel kept his word. Just one month 72 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:13,160 Speaker 1: after returning to Boston. In a letter dated October eighteenth, 73 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy three, Phillis wrote that she had been freed. 74 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 1: Yet even as a free woman in Boston, Phillis's life 75 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: remained difficult. Most of the Wheatlies died over the next 76 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: few years, and without the family's support, she was unable 77 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: to sell her writing or secure a publisher for a 78 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: second book. Despite her earlier popularity and acclaim, Phillis published 79 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 1: just four more poems between seventeen seventy six and her 80 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: premature death in seventeen eighty four at the age of 81 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: thirty one. Today, it's believed that Phillis Wheatley wrote as 82 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: many as one hundred and forty five poems, with the 83 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: majority of them intended for the second volume that no 84 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: one would support. Tragically, most of that work is now lost. 85 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 1: For a long time after her death, many literary critics 86 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 1: portrayed Phillis as being unconcerned with the issue of slavery. 87 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: She was viewed as a proponent of patriotism and evangelical Christianity, 88 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: but not as an abolitionist. In recent years, however, scholars 89 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: have discovered more writings and facts about Phillis's life that 90 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:32,160 Speaker 1: clearly illustrate her contempt for slavery and her artful use 91 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: of biblical references as a way to highlight the hypocrisies 92 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 1: of the institution. But the truth is that the poet 93 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: used her art to make a statement against slavery even 94 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 1: as she was being paraded and exploited by those who 95 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: claimed to oppose the practice, yet benefited from it all 96 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: the same. And her book from seventeen seventy three, one 97 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: poem speaks directly of her enslavement and of the monstrous 98 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:04,599 Speaker 1: actions of slave traders and holders, including her own. Phyllis 99 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: Wheatley writes, quote, I young in life, by seeming cruel 100 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: fate was snatched from Afric's fancied happy seat. What pangs 101 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: excruciating must molest, what sorrows labor in my parents? Breast stealed? 102 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: Was that soul? And by no misery moved that from 103 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: a father seized his babe beloved. Such such my case, 104 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: And can I then but pray others may never feel 105 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: tyrannic sway. I'm Gabe Bluesier, and hopefully you now know 106 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 107 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, 108 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if 109 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, he can send them 110 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: my way at stay at i heart media dot com. 111 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: Thanks to channel or Mays for producing the show, and 112 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: thank you very much for listening. I'll see you back 113 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History class. 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