33. Young, Gifted, and Black: Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley astonishes colonial Americans with her exquisite and precocious poetry and reflects on the liberating power of the imagination.
Themes:
• J.C. Shields (ed.), The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley (Oxford: 1988).
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• V. Carretta, Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage (Athens, GA: 2011).
• M.A. Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar: Interpretative Essays on the Life and Poetry of Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753 - 1784) and George Moses Horton (ca. 1797 - 1883) (Washington DC: 1974).
• W.H. Robinson, Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley (Boston: 1982).
• J.C. Shields, Phillis Wheatley’s Poetics of Liberation: Backgrounds and Contexts (Knoxville: 2008).
• J.C. Shields (ed.), New Essays on Phillis Wheatley (Knoxville: 2011).
• D. Waldstreicher, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: a Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence (New York: 2023).
Episodes 29 - 67: Slavery and the Creation of Diasporic African Philosophy
Comments
Name
Speaking of mispelling her name, here you list her as Phillis, in the timeline you list her as Phyllis. Are they both correct?
In reply to Name by Alexander Johnson
Phillis
Oh right, thanks - it should be Phillis. I will fix this on the timeline, thanks for catching it!
Pronunciation
Hi,
I have read that George Whitefield's name should be pronounced "Witfield", with a short first i. (See the Wikipedia article).
By the way, thank you for this wonderful series! I am also looking forward to the episodes on white abolitionists (and slavery advocates) in the main series.
In reply to Pronunciation by S.G.
Whitefield
Oh thanks, I did not realize that but it makes sense. With so many difficult pronunciations in the India and Africana series, you'd think I could've gotten this one right!
Glad you like the series.
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