Part One
Phillis Wheatley was an eighteenth century poet born in West Africa and was enslaved on American soil in 1761. Despite her slave status, Wheatley had received an unprecedented education on classicism, Christianity, and literature. Wheatley wrote two significant letters, the first was to her fellow servant friend from the Tanner’s estate in 1772. The letter had discussed her enthusiasm for Christianity and her positive view towards her African heritage. The following letter in 1774 was directed to Rev. Occom in appreciation for the reverend’s argument against treatment towards African people. Her writing often included Biblical references as her audience was generally geared towards Christian followers and the Church, which had wielded substantial power during the eighteenth century.
Although, her letters were not only meant to garner political encouragement, Wheatley had written with biblical enthusiasm and poignant statements directed towards other Christians. Her letters embodied her classical education and education in literature, thus rebelling against oppression towards African women. Her message was a clear indication to the Christian audience that Africans are just as capable at being an upstanding citizen. Her letters were also a clear indication of her own self-reflection, as not merely a slave, but a classically educated Christian woman.
Part Two
In 1774, after obtaining freedom, Wheatley had written to Rev. Occom to speak on slavery. Her letter to Tanner in 1772, while not fully eclipsed on the issue of slavery, had used many biblical references to uplift fellow African servants nd their culture that was trapped under slavery. Wheatley’s letter to Rev. Occom in 1774 was a condemning statement on slavery. It also praised Rev. Occom for acknowledging the controversial issue by assenting that she was “greatly satisfied with your Reasons representing the NegroesVindication of their natural Rights” (Wheatley, 1774, p.142).
Her letter to Occom had suggested the contradiction between the upholding of slavery and America’s own desire to be released from colonist control. She entreats God’s deliverance from “those whose Avarice impels them" while adding hastily, "[t]his I desire not for their Hurt, but to convince them of the strange Absurdity of their Conduct whose Words and Actions are so diametrically opposite" (Wheatley, 1774, p.142). Her argument was to point out the hypocorism and absurdity of slavery by using religious allusions to illustrate the American’s fundamental need for freedom.
Part Three
Wheatley’s letter to Rev. Occom in 1774 was written after she had gained her freedom. Her letter refers to slavery and the desire for freedom. The particular line, “for in every human breast, God has implanted a principle, which we call love of freedom,” (Wheatley, 1774, p.142) was especially interesting. Despite the fact that Wheatley was avid bout her Christianity, this particular line drew the essence of Aristotle’s civic virtue. Aristotle had contend that freedom is only possible with civic virtue, amongst a group of people who are innately virtuous. Aristotle, however, had thought of virtue as a capability that must be achieved and is not necessarily innate. For the Philosopher, virtue was a policy, a social issue, or a governmental problem that had to be address. It was interesting to see that Wheatley had revised the concept by incorporating her religion and thus internalizing the idea of virtue. She writes that, “God has implanted [the] principle [of freedom]” (Wheatley, 1774, p.142), therefore claiming that people have an inherent need for freedom. Freedom becomes a necessary means of survival for every individual and the validity for slavery weakens. By suggesting that civic virtue is an internalized process, it would also simultaneously suggest that every individual could respect freedom. This idea makes the abolishment of slavery a much more hopeful concept.
Part Four
Wheatley’s Christianity played a heavy influencer in her life. Her 1772 letter to Tanner was a viable protest in forcing Christians to see the humanity of African people. Yet she received criticism, from other African people, about her nonchalance towards the concept of slavery during this period.
Her letter to Rev. Sam Occom was candid in clarifying any misunderstanding on her position about slavery. Its purpose was to further encourage Rev. Occom’s defense against Africans, while speaking out against American slavery. Wheatley argues in her 1774 letter that freedom is an innate quality bestowed by God as “impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance” (p.142). She eludes the predicament of African slaves to that of the Israelites while praying “God grant Deliverance in his own way and time” (Wheatley, 1774, p.142). Wheatley was aware that the majority of her audience, at the time, was more likely to be other minorities who would understand the plight of African slaves. The purpose of her 1772 letter was to showcase the positivity of her African culture. Wheatley’s 1774 letter to Rev. Occom, however, was politically entrenched in order to create slave discouragement amongst the Church.
Part Five
Both of Wheatley’s letters to her friend Tanner and Rev. Occom were heavily influenced by her ardor for Christianity and disdain for slavery. Both slavery and Evangelical Christianity were major political and social themes at the time. In both letters, Wheatley would often uses Biblical references to point out the abnormality in the concept of slavery and the uplifting of her African culture. This concept is further discussed in her correspondence to Tanner. She states that “[i]t gives [her] great pleasure to hear of so many of her Nation, Seeking with eagerness the way to true felicity” (Wheatley, 1772, p.141). She also concurs with Rev. Occom for “respecting the Negroes” (Wheatley, 1774, p.142) by suggesting that it is God’s will to encourage such a reaction.
The political and socio-economic themes during this time period were directed at slavery. Meanwhile, Phillis Wheatley had grown up with an exceptional opportunity of being educated and raised to be an upstanding Christian woman. While critics had condemned her for acting as though she was above her own history of slavery, Wheatley had shown that she was fighting against slavery through a different type of protestation. She used her love for 18th century Evangelical Christianity to raise awareness on a much different platform, but an effective one for her time period. Her use of religious allusions was a strong application towards raising awareness of slavery, as she had known the church was a powerful societal influencer. Her classicism and biblical language was contrived to influence the church on the problems of African slavery.
Part Six
Phillis Wheatley was bias towards the treatment of African slaves as she had been forced into a similar fate and brought to America to serve Caucasian families. Her point of view was to raise awareness on the detriment of African slavery in America. Though her bias did not negatively impact the validity of her argument as she had written in a detached manner, especially with her classical literary training. She used biblical references to point out the absurdity of slavery, yet the existence of slavery remains factual. Therefore, Wheatley was able to gain many supporters despite her controversial topics. Wheatley refers to herself to a Christian identity and had used her writing to talk about the oppression of an African woman amongst Caucasian Christians.
Refrence
[Letter written May 19, 1772 to Arbour Tanner]. (1772). In (The Poems of Phillis Wheatley, p. 142). Boston: Friends & Herm.
[Letter written Mar. 11, 1774 to Rev. Samson Occom]. (1774). In (The Poems of Phillis Wheatley, p. 141). New Haven: Connecticut Gazzette.
