Texts by Phillis Wheatley

• "Ocean"
• On the Death of Joseph Sewall
• "On the Death of a Young Lady of Five Years of Age"
• "On Being Brought from Africa to America"

Resources about Phillis Wheatley

1. Hanson, Aaren. "Phillis Whealtley Biography (1753-1784)." November 25, 1996. Regents of the University of Minnesota. Online Resource. 3 June 2007. <http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/wheatley_phillis.html >
Phillis Wheately is one of the most exceptional writers of all times. Wheately was born in Africa and was sent over to America to live her life as a slave when she was a child. She was transported on the Phillis ship and thats how she got her first name from her slave owners. Wheately is the last name that she had recieved from her owners that resided in Massachusetts. At a young age she first started writing poems when she was around twelve years old. Her first known works of poetry is, "On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin." She was encouraged by her slave owners to continue with her writing endeavors. After the success of her work she became a well known author and gained success in both the United States and England. She was known for her elegiac poetry style that was shown in her various writings. The major accomplishments include being the first African American to publish a book and also earn a living from her writings. She is a icon in the African American community for being influential and inspiring for African American writers. Wheately has an abundent number of poetry, stories and work that is published in different languages that include latin. The website is a biography of Phillis Wheatley and it gives information about the author and the accomplishments that she has made being a writer. It goes over her poetry and gives a brief review about her life and the struggles that she faced. This author is very important because she is the first African American writer and she is one of the most influential poet of all times. The slavery movement is what Wheately expresses in her work and it gives better understanding to those difficult times. The source was helpful to better understand the author and the message that she was trying to get across. Wheately poems are also on the website and they are also helpful to get a view and understanding of her work. The theme of it is the american dream and that the slave movement represented the american dream. Diversity was also important and to understand that there are different types of people and that there should be equally among them. The site is credible with its sources that it list and its from the University of Minnesota. It looks like alot of research went into that project because it continued for a couple years.

2. Phillis Wheatley. Narrative and Critical History of America Vol. 8 Houghton Mifflin Company. June 9, 2007. < http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/whea-phi.htm >
This website is a biography of the life of Phillis Wheatley. The website places her as writing around the time of the revolution and thus at the period of American Enlightenment. The website provides good background information on Wheatley and helps the reader understand her works better.

3. "Phillis Wheatley: American's First Black Woman Poet." Archiving Early America. 1996. 15 June 2007 <http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/winter96/wheatley.html>.
The main purpose is the discuss the life and achievements of Phillis Wheatley. As the title of the website stats, Phillis Wheatley was America’s first black woman poet. This is the main reason why she is an important person to know about from the period. Her writings are critical to an understanding of the literary period because they reflect the religious and classical background of New England. This resource was helpful in reading and interpreting the author because it is all about her life. The website is credible because it has a bibliography so one can see where the information came from.

4. Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. African American Authors 1745-1945: a Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport: Greenwood Group, Inc, 2000. Mesa Community College ebrary. 15 June 2007 <http://site.ebrary.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/lib/mesa/Top?channelName=mesa&cpage=1&docID=10018021&f00=text&frm=smp.x&hitsPerPage=10&layout=document&p00=phillis+wheatley&sortBy=score&sortOrder=desc>.
The main purpose is the discuss some of the major works of early African American authors. Wheatley’s text’s were important to know/read because they are written in early America and are a great example of the literary period. It was said that when Wheatley published her book of poems in 1773, entitled “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral,” she was the first African American writer of any significance. This is why this text is critical to an understanding of the literary period. This resource is helpful in reading and interpreting the author, text and theme, because these are the main points of information the resource contains. The website is credible because the editor is clearly stated. There is also a bibliography so one can see where the information came from.

5.Williams, Kenny J. “Phillis Wheatley.” Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 50:
Afro-American Writers Before the Harlem Renaissance. Ed. Trudier Harris.
The Gale Group: Chapel Hill, 1986.
This resource was helpful because it outlined the biography of Phillis Wheatley. This author is important because she was considered to be one of the first African-American authors. It was helpful because it shows how Wheatley was clearly just coming out of the Puritan period and shows what makes her part of the Enlightenment period. This website is credible because it came from the MCC library database.

6. “Phillis Wheatley." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. <http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/servlet/BioRC>.
Phillis Wheatley was born circa 1753, and raised as a slave child upon her arrival in America. Although she was a black women slave, Wheatley received an education. Her popularity as a poet eventually brought her freedom. This site is a reliable, biographical site offered through Mesa Community College’s electronic resources. It helped in providing an easy to understand background and biography of Phillis Wheatley.

7. "Phillis Wheatley." American Eras, Volume 3: The Revolutionary Era, 1754-1783. Gale Research, 1998.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. <http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/servlet/BioRC> Wheatley, as was the name of her Bostonian slave owners, had a different life than most of the other purchased servants at this time. The Wheatley family purchased their slave at a young age, where she was spared heavy labor and taught to read and write. This led to her studies, courtesy the Wheatley family, in such varied subjects as literature, classical studies, history, and science. Phillis, however, showed emotional conflict between her up-bringing and society’s expectations. She saw herself as a “civilized” slave. She was not only isolated within her race, but also from the intellectual circle that was dominated by Caucasian men. Still, her criticisms are bold, yet subtle, using clever writing techniques to question the American “ideals” behind the slave trade. However, it should be noted that Wheatley preached diversity as was seen in her time. Religious and intellectual equality, not necessarily race, is what fueled such poems as “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (In the poem, Wheatley used Enlightened, Deist thinking to suggest that she is an example of how people can become civilized…and how anyone, including innately “superior” white Christians, can become conditioned for incivility of thought, action, and virtue.) As a black, intellectual woman, she is influential for her time because she gained severe attention as well as criticism. She helped to make her fellow citizens question the established stereotypes and culturaly-conditioned expectations, encouraging an Enlightened train of thought that is closer to modern day. The bio is helpful to show how she was a “forgotten” hero in her day, and how she continues to act as an inspiration for the equalities. This information came from the reliable MCC’s library database.

8. "Phillis Wheatley." Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography: Colonization to the American Renaissance, 1640-1865. Gale Research, 1988.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. <http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/servlet/BioRC>. The main purpose of this article was to give an in-depth biography of the author Phillis Wheatley. It listed facts such as her birthday, that she was an African American slave, and that she reached a level of education that was very uncommon for females of color to reach at that time. Wheatley is an important person to know and read for the Enlightenment era because she exemplifies not only the struggles associated with the time, but also the strides women made during that era. This article was helpful in making sense of the time period itself because it helped me put into perspective just how women of color (and women in general) lived and were treated during this time. This was a credible website because it not only gave a thorough biography of Wheatley, but it also listed numerous links for further reading about the author and the topic.

9. Applegate, Anne. Phillis Wheatley: Her Critics and her Contributions. Negro American Literature Forum, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Winter, 1975), pp. 123-126. < http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/stable/3041306> This article is an excerpt in the Negro American Literature Forum which focuses on Phillis Wheatley, specifically her contributions to literature and her criticism. This article describes how Wheatley was sold into slavery in America, but then taught to read and write by her masters. Her early life in slavery was one that was uncommon amongst many slaves. Wheatley was ignored by many scholars and often accused of not writing her own works. However, she is an important literary figure because her work is of value and she was finally proven to have written her texts. Applegate closes her article by stating, “although her poetry is imitative, it illustrates her abilities in that she not only knew how to use the conventions of the eighteenth century poetry, to American literature of the eighteenth century, and should be recognized not only as a notable Black write, but also as a notable American author”.