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When I reviewed our reading assignments for this past week, I was thrilled to see that we would be reading the works of Phillips Whitley. During one of my recent classes, The African American Experience, I was able to read about the impact that Phillips Whitley had on the enslaved African Americans and our society as a whole. Her story is nothing short of amazing and her poetry is joy to read. Phillips Whitley was born in Africa around 1 753 and was captured as a slave in the area known today as Senegal, which is located in West Africa. She was brought to America on one of the slave ships and sold in 1 761 to the
Whitley family to be a personal slave to Mrs.. Whitley, Susann. Almost immediately, the Hatless, John and Susann, took a special liking to Phillips and treated her more like a third child than a slave. It is said that the Hatless noticed something special in Phillips and choose to encourage it rather than hinder it as many slave owners did during this time period. The turning point for Phillips Whitley was that she was fortunate enough to be educated. This was an amazing blessing to her because it was uncommon for free women in this era to be educated, not to mention enslaved women.
Phillips Whitley was an exceptional student and is said to have mastered English, including reading and writing, in less than two years time. After mastering English, she went on to learn both Greek and Latin. According to the readings and obvious by her works, Phillips Whitley was knowledgeable beyond her years. She had a very mature writing style while still a young teenager. Fortunately for Phillips Whitley, her owners and their family did not treat her like a slave. Her education was encouraged and her writings were praised. The Hatless son, Nathaniel, is partly responsible that we are able o read the poetry of Phillips Whitley today.
He went with her to London in 1773 where she hoped to gain support of her manuscript and have her works published. Her first book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published while she was technically an enslaved African. Her new friends in England that she met while gaining support for her manuscript requested that she be freed, and her owners obliged. As a free African American, Phillips Whitley met and married a man by the name of John Peters who was also free. The marriage did not last as he abandoned her. She never stopped writing, but she only had a few new poems published after her marriage.
To support herself since her husband had left, she became a servant. When she died in 1784, she was living in poverty still working as a servant. It was after her death that more of her works were published. There were two additional books of her work that were published, and it is said that she has more works that remain hidden. Phillips Whitley must have written hundreds, if not thousands, Of poems. Despite the large amount of poetry, her most famous is “On Being Brought room Africa to America” which was written in 1768. This is the poem that I read in my previous course and this one too which shows how popular it is.
It is such a joy to read because so many enslaved Africans were very angry over their enslavement. In this poem, it appears that Whitley is thankful for her new opportunities because she wrote ‘AAAS mercy brought me from my pagan land”. The entire poem is about how she was able to learn about Christianity and that changing her life. She also wrote that others too may be changed and join ‘the angelic train”. In some ways, this could be taken Nina active light saying you must be Christian to be accepted, but I took in a positive way because I believe her faith was genuine and she was thankful to have been taught about God and Christianity. Also think she was thankful that she came to America because she was taught to read and write which was her pleasure in life. Phillips Whitley was the first African American to have a book published. She gave hope to the other enslaved Africans that they too could be educated and become more than just a slave. Although many enslaved Africans did not agree that they needed to be “refined” as she wrote in her poem to “join the Anglican train”, they still respected her for her works.
She was writing during a period when deciphering began and to hear another African point out their physical characteristics and to say those things in her poem was probably hurtful. Thinking back, other enslaved Africans probably did not like what she wrote, they did respect her ability as a writer. They also had to acknowledge that she was the first published African American writer and this helped to open a door for all Africans to become more than just a slave. She helped to shape the futures of African Americans and America as a society.