Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley, poetry

"Other

wise, perhaps, the Israelites had been less solicitous for their Freedom from Egyptian Slavery: I don't say they would have been contented without it, by no Means

, for in every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of freedom..." by Phillis Wheatley

She was sold into slavery at 7 and then bought by the Wheatley's who trained her to read and write. She wrote many poems and letters had three children who all died and a husband of dubious character. But the lasting question is not about her stance of slavery but did she really write all her poems.

The question of authenticity is important because it helps to establish the author as reputable and thus prove their work to be "good" from the writers honesty. The reason this is important is because it shows how society in general accepts the previously held notions of what someone from some group is capable of. I mean that the question over if she wrote this or did not is really saying: could a black slave in that era be educated and write poetry. In a way it is an examination of racism and at the other end exploitation of a black girl by her owners.