We trace Phillis Wheatley’s journey from captivity to literary force, exploring how her poems speak to faith, freedom, and belonging during the American founding. We highlight her craft, the battle to be believed, and why her voice reframes the Revolution.
• capture in Africa and arrival in Boston
• education in the Wheatley home and early brilliance
• eulogy poems, public readings, and patronage
• the publication controversy and authorship “trial”
• patriotism and British identity in tension
• faith shaping moral claims about slavery
• “On Being Brought” and its paradoxes
• letter to Samson Occom and “modern Egyptians”
• why literary voices reframe founding politics
• how to start reading: “To Maecenas”
• Jefferson’s critique and Wheatley’s enduring merit
Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum!
