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Writing Against All Odds
3^
2o(?
A thesis submitted to the faculty of
San Francisco State University
In partial fulfillment of
the requirements for
the Degree
ETHST
’
4-23
Master of Arts
In
Ethnic Studies
by
Chris Edward Bell II
San Francisco, California
Spring, 2015
Copyright by
2015
CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL
I certify that I have read Writing Against All Odds by Chris E. Bell II and that in my
opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State
University.
Professor of Africana Studies
Dawn-Elissa Fischer
Professor of Africana Studies
Writing Against All Odds
San Francisco, California
2015
Abstract
This thesis examines selected works of two representative Black writers of the 18th
century who used writing to fight oppression and advocate for the emancipation of
African Americans from slavery. The specific writers are Phillis Wheatley (poetry) and
Richard Allen (prose). This study explores the works of these writers in the context of
what Dr. Dorothy Tsuruta posits as “art for life’s sake”, Arthur Danto as "Disturbatory
Art" and Trey Ellis as “art that shakes you up” (Tsuruta 2008; Ellis 2014). To this end, I
examine the rhetorical mode of the selected literary works which is defined as “saying
something in a certain way for a certain reason with the self and the audience in mind”
(Tsuruta 2008). In bringing a 21st century angle of vision to 18th century race themed
poetry of Wheatley, I contextualize them rightfully as social protest literature. This fact
was disputed in the 1960s when Wheatley's poetry was ostracized by the Black Arts
Movement, which understandably championed poetry that sounded the strident tone of
the times. Amiria Baraka declared "Black Art must be the Nationalist's vision given more
form and feeling, as a razor...cut (1969). In simultaneously bringing attention to the race
themed prose of Richard Allen, I contextualize his work as sounding a 1960s Black Arts
strident tone, though written in the 1700s. This study of 18th century protest literature, as
forebears of Black literary activism today, contributes to the African American literary
legacy, correcting a dearth of research in these areas of study.
PREFACE AND/OR ACKNOWLEGEMENT
First, I would like to thank my parents Chris and Felicia Bell, my Wife, Tasha, and my
daughter, Kamari. Also, my supportive family including my mother-in-law, Annie Lewis,
my Uncle Frank Kellum, and my Aunte, Melba McWilliams. Among my professors, I
would like to thank Dr. Tsuruta, Dr. Fischer, Dr. Collins, Dr. McDougal and Dr.
Monteiro, Dean of the college of Ethnic Studies. All of these professors were
instrumental in encouraging me to apply to the Ethnic Studies Master’s Program at San
Francisco State University. Next, I would like to thank my cohort in the program and
close friend, Aaron P. Hicks. Without any of these people mentioned above, I would not
be able to do this work, they have given me the strength necessary to be here in this
Program. In final, I would like to acknowledge all of the ancestors who are not with us
today. Thank you.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................................1
Chapter 2: Literature Review.............................................................................................. 7
Chapter 3: Methodology....................................................................................................15
Chapter 4: Phyllis Wheatley..............................................................................................21
Chapter 5: Richard Allen...................................................................................................36
Chapter 6: Conclusion........................................................................................................50
Appendix............................................................................................................................54
1
Chapter 1: Introduction
During the 1700’s African American men and women fought slavery by using
different means to liberate themselves. One effective tool used was writing. Free Black
people in the New England area (such as Richard Allen and several others) of the United
States, as well as enslaved Black people (such as Phillis Wheatley) who were taught to
read and write by their enslavers), produced speeches, addresses, lectures, sermons,
charges, petitions, letters, poetry, narratives, pamphlets, and appeals, to combat the
protectors and defenders of slavery who wanted to preserve it. These written documents
challenged slavery; the authors' goal was to abolish slavery and emancipate African
Americans.
Black writers of the 18th century strategically used their writing to speak out
against the injustices, atrocities and horrors of slavery. They document the enslavers'
moral crimes against humanity during this period, and the accounts of it are still horrific
to even read about today. But this history demands inquiry and further study to appreciate
that Black people were not passive in this period: they fought against oppression not only
in attempted overthrow, but through their writing, despite the overwhelming odds they
faced. Punishment was severe for those who participated in any way to gain their
freedom, learning to read and write included: failed insurrections or attempted escapes
meant cruel inhumane punishment. Not only would those involved in efforts to gain
freedom suffer punishment to their own person, but their punishment also came in the
form of having their loved ones tortured or killed in cruel retaliation. Families were
stripped away from each other, women and men sexually violated, culture and languages
2
denied, people constantly beaten and tortured every day. That the enslaved and free
Blacks nonetheless challenged slavery, is needed attention, as that fact is not given the
emphasis it is due today in textbooks assigned to students from elementary school
through university.
African American writers mainly in the North who were able to write understood
that writing had power. As an Africana studies undergraduate major, with an emphasis in
Black literature, I was introduced to Black writers of the 18th century. My fascination
with their advocacy through writing, thus informed my deciding to focus on them when,
as an Ethnic Studies graduate student earning the masters degree, I chose Black writers of
the 18th century as the subject of my MA thesis to explore them more in depth.
As an undergraduate at San Francisco State University, I was enrolled in AFRS
645, Harlem Renaissance Literature fall semester 2009.1 enrolled in this class with a
background of having taken AFRS 210 ‘Introduction to Black literature ’ in the fall
semester of 2008. Interestingly enough, in the Harlem Renaissance Literature class, a
young White female student was surprised to hear that African Americans had written
books in the middle of the 1900s. Her words were something of the sort like: “I did not
even know that Black people had written books back then.” Her comment was echoed by
other students in the class including some Black students. The Professor pointed out to
the class that Black Americans had written books in the early 1900s. The Professor then
went on to mention Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man (1952) and then James Weldon
Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912). The Professor stopped there
and looked satisfied with her answer in response to the student’s statement.
3
I interjected into the class discussion to point out that African Americans had
been writing books earlier than the 1900s, in fact, stretching back to the 1700s. Such
figures as Phillis Wheatley wrote Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, and
Richard Allen wrote A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Colored People During the
Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the year 1793; and a Refutation of Some
Censures Thrown upon Them in Some Publications. The purpose of my mentioning this
class experience was to reveal that there are professors, students in general, and students
of literature who do not know, nor have ever heard of African American writers who
produced social protest literature in the past that addressed and challenged injustice.
After that experience I began to study more about the earliest Black writers in
America and realized that much was contributed by them even up into the present day,
but they are rarely acknowledged. However, if mentioned at all, their contributions and
work is not approached or analyzed from the viewpoint of them advocating for social
justice, nor working towards eradicating various forms of oppression.
African American writers of the 1700s produced social protest literature which
was direct and hard hitting in their language and style of writing. This Black literary
expression of the 1700s represents art in the service of life which resonates with the
Black Arts movement of the 1960s. Furthermore, this realization revealed to me that
these two dimensions regarding these 1700 writers’ contributions and influences, along
with their social protest found in their literature had not been given the attention in
education that it should have been given. In this way, students such as those in my class
who did not know about African American writers will be better educated in the future.
4
My experience as a Teacher’s Assistant in a Black literature class enriched and
enhanced my knowledge about Black writers. I have come to appreciate literature more
as a result of being exposed to these writers from the 1700s. My literary investigation has
revealed to me that these writers used their writing in the art in the service of life when
advocacy was needed to fight oppression and emancipate Black people from slavery.
Another reason for my fascination with these writers and this period is that I have
a daughter and would like her to know about her history, also the contributions of Black
writers to literature, and the impact Black literature has had on transforming society in
order to bring about social change and equality of opportunities for Black people. This
rich literary legacy of social protest literature is not an anomaly among just Phillis
Wheatley and Richard Allen, for it is also located in the 1960’s Black Arts Movement.
Wheatley and Allen are among the forebears of social protest literature and it is because
of this reason that their works are examined in detail within this thesis.
The second chapter of this thesis is the literature review which surveys the
previous literature on my area of study regarding the two selected African American
writers and their’ written works. The third chapter of this thesis is the Methodology
section. In this section, I show how I will apply the concept of what Tsuruta defines
as “art for life’s sake”, what Arthur Danto calls "Disturbatory Art"—and what Trey Ellis
describes as “art that shakes you up” (Tsuruta 2008; Ellis 2014). This involves exploring
(1) the aesthetic dimensions of the selected works that convey the message of the writers,
and (2) the message itself. To this end my study will apply and employ rhetorical
mode which is “saying something in a certain way for a certain reason with the self and
the audience in mind (Tsuruta 2008). Rhetorical mode can also be defined as “a strategy,
5
a way or method of presenting a subject through writing or speech. Rhetorical mode
helps develop ideas, order them according to certain patterns and also achieves a
particular effect in the reader” (Maimon et al, 2007). The fourth chapter is on Phillis
Wheatley and the fifth chapter is on Richard Allen. Both chapters four and five will cover
the lifetimes of the each respective writer, along with a piece of their writing and also
what it addressed and sought to achieve at that time. The last chapter is the conclusion
which will complete my thesis. In the last chapter, I will summarize my thesis by
presenting my findings and offer considerations for future studies to research, investigate
and explore.
6
Works Cited Page to the Introduction
Ellis, Trey. Huff Post: Black Voices. The Hujfington Post. 2011. Web. 24 Sept. 2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/whos-afraid-of-me b 981005.html.
Maimon, Elaine P. The Brief McGraw Hill Handbook. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Co.
2007. Print.
Tsuruta, Dorothy. Classroom Lecture at San Francisco State University. San Francisco,
CA: Fall Semester, 2008.
7
Chapter 2: Literature Review
The Black writers of the 18th century used their writing to fight oppression,
abolish slavery and gain the freedom of African Americans. Regular efforts were made
by Enslaved Black people to free themselves. One way of achieving this objective was
through starting rebellions and revolts. In American Negro Slave Revolts, Aptheker
documents the many revolts in early American history committed by enslaved Blacks.
Aptheker states on that on a “Sunday, September 9, 1739, the Negroes on a plantation at
Stono some twenty miles west of Charleston, South Carolina, revolted and killed the two
guards” and then armed themselves with guns destroying everything in their path (516).
Eventually, the revolt was put down. However, Aptheker also tells us that “Two
fairly serious outbreaks did...mark the first period, one...in North Carolina in 1775, the
other in Georgia in 1776” (519). These revolts caused much panic among Whites who
were in fear of potential revolts springing up at any time around them. While in captivity
many enslaved Black people took matters into their own hands by risking their lives and
that of their family members in order to gain freedom.
Another way in which Black people sought freedom was through their writing.
Recognizing this strength they used various forms of writing. Poems, petitions, sermons
and speeches were published in newspapers, pamphlets and magazines advocating for the
abolishment of slavery. Amiri Baraka affirms in (Recent Black Literature —The Political
Dimensions) that the slave narratives of the South and Black Abolitionist literature of the
North were both forms of literary weapons used to fight slavery (1986). He asserts the
production of Black literature from the North and the South of the 1700s to the 1800s
allowed Blacks to combat slavery, oppression and inequality.
8
Both Phillis Wheatley and Richard Allen produced literature that protested
slavery. Phillis Wheatley had been educated by the Wheatley family, and developed
herself as a literary artist. However, she was attacked as a writer by Thomas Jefferson. In
Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson while lacking backgrounds in literature
took it upon himself to severely criticize Phillis Wheatley as a poet:
Misery is often the parent of the most affecting touches in poetry.—
Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry. Love is
the peculiar oestrum of the poet. Their love is ardent, but it kindles the
senses only, not the imagination. Religion indeed has produced a Phyllis
Whately [sic]; but it could not produce a poet. The compositions published
under her name are below the dignity of criticism. (234)
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes on Thomas Jefferson in “Phillis Wheatley on Trial” when he
says: “Phillis [Wheatley] had plenty of experience—‘misery enough’—and thanks to the
Wheatleys, training in spelling and composition....The authentication of Wheatley
authorship in 1772 missed the point, in Jefferson’s view. The issue wasn’t whether she
was the genuine author but whether what she produced was genuine poetry” (86). Gates
treatment of Jefferson’s critique on Wheatley is extremely insightful and also hopeful in
understanding the opposition she faced during that period.
Wheatley’s and Allen’s writings embody art for life sake and they set the tone for
future Black writers to follow. Wheatley and Allen are the forebears to a rich literary
legacy in Black literature which can be seen through different literary periods in time and
even into the present.
Hazel Arnett Ervin posits in African American Literary Criticism, 1773 to 2000
that Black literary criticism can be found in Phillis Wheatley’s poems “On Imagination”
and “To Maecenas” both written in 1773. Although, Ervin’s book focuses on Black
literary criticism, the works chosen from the selected Black writers in this book embody
9
art for life’s sake. These Black literary writers’ view of art for life’s sake lends more to
our understanding of Wheatley’s and Allen’s own expression of art for life’s sake.
Another important literary figure that Ervin points out in her book is Victoria
Earle Matthews. In Matthews’s “The Value of Race Literature: An Address”, she asserts
that Black literature has the potential and capacity to impact the world: “I base my
expectation that our Race Literature when developed will not only compare favorably
with many, but will stand out preeminent, not only in the limited history of colored
people, but in the broader field of universal literature” (Matthews 7). Matthews chose to
use the word Race over Black, however, her contribution to Black literature is
appreciated. Further, Matthews’s quote indicates that she sees Black literature as an
instrument which can be used in transforming society as well as the world.
In W.E.B. DuBois “Criteria of Negro Art”, he offers this statement on Black art:
.. .all art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists.
I stand in utter shamelessness and say that whatever art I have for writing
has been used always for propaganda gaining the right of black folk to
love and enjoy. I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for
propaganda. But I do care when propaganda is confined to one side while
the other side is stripped and silent. (Dubois 295)
DuBois observed that propaganda was political and used by Whites in their arts, thus,
Blacks should also use propaganda in their arts to advance their political agenda as well.
By DuBois associating the word propaganda with Black art ran the risks of being
dismissed and not taken seriously during that time.
In “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926), Langston Hughes stated:
“We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned
selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it
doesn’t matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too” (Hughes 694). Hughes’s
10
mention o f ‘dark-skinned’ African Americans being ‘without fear or shame’ resonates
with the ‘Black is Beautiful’ slogan of the 1960s, which encouraged self-esteem among
Black people. This statement also confirms his stance.
Alain Locke’s position on the art for life’s sake differed slightly from the literary
scholars previously mentioned. In “Art or Propaganda?” (1928), Locke objected to
propaganda because he felt that it
. .perpetuates the position of group inferiority even in
crying out against it” (Locke 25). Moreover, Locke disagreed with propaganda being
infused into Black art and instead suggested that Black art should represent pure
expression that is representative of the masses of Black people.
In “Blueprint for Negro Writing”, Richard Wright encouraged Black writers to
embrace who they were and express it through their writing:
The Negro writer who seeks to function within his race as a purposeful
agent has a serious responsibility. In order to do justice to his subject
matter, in order to depict Negro life in all its manifold in intricate
relationships, a deep, informed, and complex consciousness is necessary; a
consciousness which draws for its strength upon the fluid upon the lore of
a great people, and moulds this lore with the concepts that move and direct
the forces of history today.” (Wright 58)
Wright’s essay echoes with Matthews’s address regarding the global impact and power
that Black writers can have on the world.
Black literary artists and criticism in the 1960s challenged society upfront and
more directly. Issues and problems, such as racism, discrimination, unemployment, and
police brutality were explored and discussed by Black literary scholars. More
importantly, the Black literary criticism which comes out the Black Arts Movement of
the 1960s is unique and dynamic because it allows for Black literary scholars to analyze
and examine Black literature in a way that pulls out bigger social issues and problems.
11
Furthermore, the Black literary criticism of the 1960s is socially and politically charged
confronting White society at large. Black Fire (1968), edited by Baraka and Neal, is the
definitive anthology of the movement, a collection of essays, poetry, fiction, and drama
featuring the first wave of Black Arts writers and thinkers. Because of its impressive
breadth, Black Fire stands as a definitive movement anthology in representing the best
works from the artists and writers of the Black Arts Movement.
In the essay “The Black Arts Movement”, Larry Neal encourages the Black writer
to attack and dismantle White aesthetics: “The motive behind the Black aesthetic is the
destruction of the white thing, the destruction of white ideas and white ways of looking at
the world” (Neal 30). It should be pointed out that White aesthetics is used as a tool for
White Supremacy in the schools and colleges, and reinforces an oppressive infrastructure
which continues to oppress Americans of Color, and for this study, Black Americans
specifically. Furthermore, Neal affirms that the Black writer must abandon the White
aesthetic and instead use the Black aesthetic when writing to on behalf of their people
and advance Black culture.
The 1960s Black literary scene projected art for life’s sake through their writing.
The unique thing about the 1960s Black Art Movement writing is that it was direct and
hard hitting in style and in tone. Larry Neal understood that literature required a political
aspect to it just like DuBois before him. They were both quite clear on the purpose and
function of literature and art, except Neal was a Black nationalist and much more militant
than DuBois. Larry Neal proclaimed that Black Arts is the “aesthetic and spiritual sister
of the Black Power concept” (Neal 28).
12
The Black writers of this period declared that literature and all art was supposed
to uplift the community for which it was intended. It is the protest literature of the Black
Arts Movement which allowed for Black literature to be accepted and taught in the
university in the first place. The point of mentioning this fact is to illustrate that the social
protest found in Black literature is one of the strengths that allowed Black Americans to
fight oppression, abolish slavery, attain freedom, create a Black Arts Movement and
create a Black Studies department where Black literature classes could be taught.
Phillis Wheatley’s and Richard Allen’s writing resonates with other Black writers
such as Matthews, Dubois, Hughes, Wright, Neal and Baraka. This can be identified
when Wheatley states that enslaved Black people desire the same freedom and justice
that Whites already have, or when Allen says that White enslavers need to release
enslaved Black people or suffer punishment. Further, Baraka in his essay “Recent Black
Literature” proposed that “the production of the great mass of our writing and art must be
a function of the struggle for democracy and self-determination itself, which ultimately
can only come into full being by means of revolution and social change” (98). Although,
Baraka is in the 20th century, his ideas are in accord with Phillis Wheatley in seeking to
improve the conditions of Black people which is the point of art for life’s sake.
The literary legacy of Black literature is long standing and invaluable to Black
literary scholars. Black writers must continue to draw upon the richness of their literary
tradition and use it in order to understand the Black writers of the past and draw
connections with social protest literature that is prominent of the past all the way up until
the 1960s Black Arts Movement era. More importantly, this research contributes to the
fields of Africana Studies and Ethnic Studies by helping us to understand there is a long
13
history of social protest literature in the African American community which can be used
as a module by contemporary Black literary scholars and Ethnic Studies literary scholars
when producing literary art. A literary art infused with social protest can be used today to
speak directly to the issues and concerns affecting the Black community and other
communities of color as well. Above all, social protest literature will reinforce the artists
and writers’ ability to speak out against the oppression and injustices committed against
them free of White literary criteria, standards, judgment and critique as was intended by
the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s.
This literature review will transition into the methodology section by examining
and analyzing the written works of the two selected Black writers of the 18th century. As
stated, the specific writers from the 18th century are Phillis Wheatley and Richard Allen.
The method which will be used in the Methodology section for this thesis is 'rhetorical
mode' and what Tsuruta defines 'art for life's sake' what Arthur Danto calls "Disturbatory
Art"—and what Trey Ellis describes as “art that shakes you up” (Tsuruta 2008; Ellis
2014). Furthermore, these literary tools will help me examine social protest literature that
was produced by Black writers of the 1700s.
14
Works Cited Page to Literature Review
Aptheker, Herbert. “American Negro Slave Revolts.” Science & Society. Vol. 1. No. 4.
Summer 1937: 5112-518.
Baraka, Amiri. Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing. Baltimore, MD:
Black Classic Press. 1968.
Baraka, Amiri. “Recent Black Literature —The Political Dimensions.” A Journal of
Literature and Art. 10. (1986): 92-98.
Ellis, Trey. Huff Post: Black Voices. The Huffington Post. 2011. Web. 24 Sept. 2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/whos-afraid-of-me b 981005.html.
Erwin, Hazel E. African American Literary Criticism, 1773 to 2000. New York, NY:
Twayne Publishers. 1999.
DuBois, W.E.B. “Criteria of Negro Art”. The Crisis. Vol. 33. Oct 1926: 290-297.
Gates Jr., Henry Louis. “Phillis Wheatley on Trial.” The New Yorker. 20 Jan 2003: 82-87.
Hill, Patricia Liggins. Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African
American Literary Tradition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1997.
Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” The Nation. 122. 23
June 1926: 692-94.
Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia. London Press. 1786.
Locke, Alain. “Art of Propaganda?” Harlem. 1. Nov 1928: 25-26.
Matthews, Victoria Earle. The Value of Race Literature: An Address delivered at the first
Congress of Colored Women of the United States, at Boston, Mass., July 30th,
1895.
Neal, Larry. “The Black Arts Movement.” The Drama Review: Black Theatre. Vol. 12.
No. 4. (Summer 1968): 28-39.
Wright, Richard. “Blueprint for Negro Writing.” New Challenge. 11. Fall 1937: 53-65.
15
Chapter 3: Methodology Section
This thesis examines how African Americans of the 18th century used writing to
fight oppression, abolish slavery and attain freedom for all African Americans. The
specific African American writers being examined are Phillis Wheatley and Richard
Allen of the 18th century. The methodology used to examine the works of the two Black
writers is rhetorical mode. In analyzing the selected works of Phillis Wheatley and
Richard Allen, I will apply the concept of what Tsuruta defines as “art for life’s sake”,
what Arthur Danto calls "Disturbatory Art"—and what Trey Ellis describes as “art that
shakes you up” (Tsuruta 2008; Ellis 2014). This involves exploring (1) the
aesthetic dimensions of the selected works that convey the message of the writers, and (2)
the message itself. To this end my study will apply and employ Rhetorical mode which
is “saying something in a certain way for a certain reason with the self and the audience
in mind (Tsuruta 2008). Rhetorical mode can also be defined as “a strategy, a way or
method of presenting a subject through writing or speech. Rhetorical mode helps develop
ideas, order them according to certain patterns and also achieves a particular effect in the
reader” (Maimon et al, 2007).
When analyzing Phillis Wheatley’s poem, “To the Right Honorable William Earl
of Dartmouth” in 1772,1 apply rhetorical mode and by this I go verse to verse to discern
the way she constructs her ideas aesthetically and the language that she uses to achieve
this goal. Furthermore, Wheatley, uses subtle and sophisticated language to point out the
hypocrisy of Whites claiming to represent freedom and liberty while still oppressing and
exploiting Black Americans by keeping them enslaved.
Phillis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought From Africa to America”:
16
‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scournful eye,
“Their colour is a diabolic die.”
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train. (1-8)
Methodology: Employing Rhetorical Mode to analyze verse by verse:
Phillis Wheatley’s poem:
“To The Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of
State for North-America, & c.”:
Verse 1:
Hail, happy day, when, smiling like the morn,
Fair Freedom rose New-England to adorn:
The northern clime beneath her genial ray,
Dartmouth, congratulates thy blissful sway:
Elate with hope her race no longer mourns,
Each soul expands, each grateful bosom burns,
While in thine hand with pleasure we behold
The silken reins, and Freedom's charms unfold.
Long lost to realms beneath the northern skies
She shines supreme, while hated faction dies:
Soon as appear’d the Goddess long desir’d,
Sick at the view, she languish’d and expir’d;
Thus from the splendors of the morning light
The owl in sadness seeks the caves of night. (1-14)
Verse 2:
No more, America, in mournful strain
Of wrongs, and grievance unredress’d complain,
No longer shalt thou dread the iron chain,
Which wanton Tyranny with lawless hand
Had made, and with it meant t’ enslave the land. (15-19)
Verse 3
17
Should you, my lord, while peruse my song,
Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung
Whence flow these wishes for the common good
By feeling hearts alone best understood,
I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate
Was snatch’d from Afric’s fancy’d happy seat.
What pangs excruciating must molest,
What sorrows labour in my parent’s breast?
Steel’d was that soul and by no misery mov’d
That from a father seiz’d his babe belov’d:
Such, such my case. And can I then but pray
Others may never feel tyrannic sway? (20-29)
Verse 4
For favours past, great Sir, our thanks are due,
And thee we ask thy favours to renew,
Since in thy pow’r, as in thy will before,
To sooth the griefs, which thou did’st once deplore.
May heav’nly grace the sacred sanction give
To all thy works, and thou for ever live
Not only on the wings of fleeting Fame,
Though praise immortal crowns the patriot’s name,
But to conduct to heav’ns refulgent fane,
May fiery coursers sweep th’ ethereal plain,
And bear thee upwards to that blest abode,
Where, like the prophet, thou shalt find thy God. (32-42)
Methodology: Employing Rhetorical Mode to analyze the content:
Richard Allen’s: An Address To Those Who Keep Slaves and Approve the Practice
Paragraph one:
The judicious part of mankind will think it unreasonable that a superior good conduct is
looked for from our race, by those who stigmatize us as men, whose baseness is
incurable, and may therefore be held in a state of servitude, that a merciful man would
not doom a beast to; yet you try what you can to prevent our rising from a state of
barbarism you represent us to be in, but we can tell you from a degree of experience that
a black man, although reduced to the most abject state human nature is capable of, short
of real madness, can think, reflect, and feel injuries, although it may not be with the same
degree of keen resentment and revenge that you who have been and are our great
oppressors would manifest if reduced to the pitiable condition of a slave. We believe if
18
you would try the experiment of taking a few black children, and cultivate their minds
with the same care, and let them have the same prospect in view as to living in the world,
as you would wish for your own children, you would find upon the trial, they were not
inferior in mental endowments. I do not wish to make you angry, but excite attention to
consider how hateful slavery is in the sight of that God who hath destroyed kings and
princes for their oppression of the poor slaves. Pharaoh and his princes with the posterity
of king Saul, were destroyed by the protector and avenger of slaves. Would you not
suppose the Israelites to be utterly unfit for freedom, and that it was impossible for them,
to obtain to any degree of excellence? Their history shows how slavery had debased their
spirits. Men must be willfully blind, and extremely partial, that cannot see the contrary
effects of liberty and slavery upon the mind of man; I truly confess the vile habits often
acquired in a state of servitude, are not easily thrown off; the example of the Israelites
shows, who with all that Moses could do to reclaim them from it, still continued in their
habits more or less; and why will you look for better from us, why will you look for
grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? It is in our posterity enjoying the same
privileges with your own, that you ought to look for better things.
Paragraph two
When you are pleaded with, do not you reply as Pharaoh did, "Wherefore do ye Moses
and Aaron let the people from their work, behold the people of the land now are many,
and you make them rest from their burthens." We wish you to consider that God himself
was the first pleader of the cause of slaves.
Paragraph three
That God who knows the hearts of all men, and the propensity of a slave to hate
his oppressor, hath strictly forbidden it to his chosen people, "Thou shalt not abhor an
Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land." Deut. 23. 7. The meek and humble
Jesus, the great pattern of humanity, and every other virtue that can adorn and dignify
men, hath commanded to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate and despitefully
use us. I feel the obligations, I wish to impress them on the minds of our colored brethren,
and that we may all forgive you, as we wish to be forgiven, we think it a great mercy to
have all anger and bitterness removed from our minds; I appeal to your own feelings, if it
is not very disquieting to feel yourselves under dominion of wrathful disposition.
Paragraph four
If you love your children, if you love your country, if you love the God of love, clear
your hands from slaves, burthen not your children or your country with them, my heart
has been sorry for the blood shed of the oppressors, as well as the oppressed, both appear
19
guilty of each others blood, in the sight of him who hath said, he that sheddeth man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed.
Paragraph five
Will you, because you have reduced us to the unhappy condition our color is in, plead
our incapacity for freedom, and our contented condition under oppression, as a sufficient
cause for keeping us under the grievous yoke. I have shown the cause, — I will also show
why they appear contented as they can in your sight, but the dreadful insurrections they
have made when opportunity has offered, is enough to convince a reasonable man, that
great uneasiness and not contentment, is the inhabitant of their hearts. God himself hath
pleaded their cause, he hath from time to time raised up instruments for that purpose,
sometimes mean and contemptible in your sight, at other times he hath used such as it
hath pleased him, with whom you have not thought it beneath your dignity to contend.
Many have need convinced of their error, condemned their former conduct, and become
zealous advocates for the cause of those, whom you will not suffer to plead for
themselves.
By applying rhetorical mode to an analysis of Phillis Wheatley and Richard Allen
literary works, I am able to discern the way these writers of the 18th century were creating
protest literature. This method section shows my approach to the study of the literary
texts being analyzed in order to demonstrate how African Americans of the 18th century
used writing to fight oppression, abolish slavery and attain freedom for all African
Americans. In addition, this method section is intended to show and provide literary
scholars and teachers an approach to the study of 18th century protest literature in the
context of what Tsuruta defines as “art for life’s sake”, what Arthur Danto calls
"Disturbatory Art"—and what Trey Ellis describes as “art that shakes you up” (Tsuruta
2008; Ellis 2014).
20
Works Cited Page to Methodology
Ellis, Trey. Huff Post: Black Voices. The Huffington Post. 2011. Web. 24 Sept. 2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trev-ellis/whos-afraid-of-me b 981005.html.
Maimon, Elaine P. The Brief McGraw Hill Handbook. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Co.
2007. Print.
Tsuruta, Dorothy. “Regional and Regal: Chicago’s Extraordinary Maud Martha.”
Gwendolyn Brooks ’Maud Martha: A critical collection. Ed. Jacqueline Bryant.
Chicago, IL: Third World Press Publishers. 2002. 41-68.
Tsuruta, Dorothy. “Cultural Memory in the works of Langston Hughes as Art for Life’s
Sake!” Memory and the Narrative Imagination in the African And African
Diaspora. Ed. Tom Spencer-Walters. Troy, MI: Bedford Publishers, Inc. 2011.
73- 90.
21
Chapter Four: Phillis Wheatley
This chapter on the life and works of the eighteenth century poet Phillis Wheatley,
is examined in the context of what is variously (and in agreement) posited as “art for
life’s sake" (Dorothy Tsuruta), "Disturbatory Art" (Arthur Danto) and “art that shakes
you up” (Trey Ellis). This involves exploring (1) the aesthetic dimensions of the selected
poem that conveys the message of the writers, and (2) the message itself. To this end, I
analyze the rhetorical mode of each selected literary work; specifically this means
examining how the writer goes about, “saying something in a certain way for a certain
reason with the self and the audience in mind” (Tsuruta 2008). Or as Maimon puts it,
rhetorical mode is the “strategy, a way or method of presenting a subject through writing
or speech. Rhetorical mode helps develop ideas, order them according to certain patterns
and also achieves a particular effect in the reader” (Maimon et al 2007).
Although Phillis Wheatley does not jump out in the list of the poets that carried
the Black Arts movement of the 1960s during which strident voices protested racism in
words and actions, she was indeed an activist voice in taking great risks as an enslaved
Black person of that period. The scholars and activists of the Black Arts Movement did
not have the patience to interpret or explain her poems. They needed poems of an
immediacy that had the fight of the particular activism of the time. However, for her
times, Wheatley indeed contested racism in her poetry, specifically, slavery, to reach
those in power who could contribute to the abolishing of slavery and attaining freedom
for the masses of enslaved Black people.
When considering all of the injustices, atrocities and horrors that took place in the
1700s, it is clear that violence and death could befall any Black person enslaved or free
22
speaking out against slavery through their writing. Hence, Wheatley could have been
easily targeted for death if she said the wrong thing or if her poetry was interpreted as
being offensive to Whites. But she took the risk. What she puts her art through
Wheatley used the poetic trope of the time in a creative way to press for justice.
She invokes the Christian spirit (as it should be lived out) in her art that can have the
impact of disturbing (disturbatory art) the conscience of a person who considers himself
or herself a Christian follower of Christ. Her rhetorical mode enables her to convey her
concerns aesthetically in the literary poetical mode of the time which is appealing to the
good will of others rather sounding a demanding note. Understandably to have sounding
a demanding note during the time she lived could have caused serious harm to be
inflicted on her. This is something which needs to be considered more often when
studying Wheatley’s works. Interestingly, what is remarkable about Phillis Wheatley is
that her poetry functioned as a tool in the fight against slavery. Within the conditions
under which she lived, she put her brilliance to the cause of her people through writing
her works. Wheatley could say things in her poetry in a way where she would not be
attacked. More importantly, the fact that she put it in her mind to act on behalf of her
people by writing poetry and talking to key figures should indicate her commitment.
Phillis Wheatley, born in Senegal in 1753 was kidnapped from her parents when
she was seven years old and taken aboard a slave ship called the ‘Phillis’ which was
headed for America. The young girl was taken to Boston, Massachusetts in 1761, where
she was put on an auction block and purchased by John Wheatley as a gift for his wife
Susannah Wheatley. Mrs. Wheatley told her husband she wanted a young girl for
domestic work. Once in the Wheatley home, the young girl was given the name Phillis
23
possibly because of the ship she had been on. Unfortunately, Phillis Wheatley’s real
name is not known as was the common practice among Whites in those days to not honor
the name of enslaved Africans.
The cold climate in New England was difficult for Phillis Wheatley to adjust to
the environment. She would suffer from chronic asthma for the rest of her life. Once in
the Wheatley home, the seven year old child proved so quick of mind that she was
educated by the Wheatley’s daughter, Mary Wheatley. Initially, she was taught literature
and theology at first. Phillis Wheatley soon learned “to read and write in English and
Latin as well as how to study the Bible. She was soon immersed in ‘astronomy,
geography, history, British literature...and the Greek and Latin classics’” (Hill et al 92).
This stimulated Phillis Wheatley’s intellect and her desire for learning. What is
fascinating is that Newspapers started publishing her poetry when she was fourteen years
old. The Mercury of Newport, Rhode Island published her poem “On Messrs. Hussey and
Coffin” on December 21, 1767. Other major cities in which Wheatley’s poetry was
published included Boston and New England.
The Wheatley family noticing her literary talent allowed their friends to request
that Phillis Wheatley write elegies for their deceased love ones. Phillis Wheatley started
to become well-known for her writing, when “she wrote ‘On the Death of the Reverend
Mr. George Whitfield, 1770,’ [this] poem was to make her famous in both England and
the American colonies” (Hill et al 93). Eventually, she would become a prominent
literary figure and gain much fame from writing the poem about the Reverend George
Whitfield. Hill et al also state that “By the time she was sixteen, she had become the bestknown African writer in the colonies” (92). Her talent and literary fame grew nationally
24
and internationally, and people eventually began to approach the Wheatley family
requesting for the services of Phillis Wheatley to write elegies for the deceased instead of
the Wheatley’s sending her out.
At this point, the Wheatley family was in the habit of parading Phillis Wheatley
around like a proud owner would a pet animal capable of performing amazing tricks.
Soon after, the Wheatley family decided to advertise Phillis Wheatley’s collection of
poems they wished to publish, but American colonists did not want to finance such a
project by someone enslaved. However, the Wheatley family would use her literary fame
to their advantage in order to get her poetry published. Thus, the Wheatley family
decided to send her collection of poems as a manuscript to London for publication
through a possible investor, an English Philanthropist named, Selina Hastings, the
Countess of Huntingdon:
Mrs. [Susannah] Wheatley had no choice but to turn to London for
publication. In December 1772, she arranged for a London printer and a
ship’s master to visit the wealthy Countess of Huntingdon in London with
Phillis’s manuscript. Agreeing to finance the volume’s publication, Lady
Huntington liked the prospect of having the book dedicated to her and
asked to have Phillis’s picture in the frontispiece. (Hill et al 93)
This decision made by the Wheatley’s worked successfully, resulting in the publication
of Phillis Wheatley’s “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” in 1773.
Another important moment in Phillis Wheatley’s life was when the Wheatley
family sent her to London in 1773 because of her health condition. She was accompanied
there along with the Wheatley’s son, Nathaniel Wheatley. Ever since arriving in America,
Phillis Wheatley’s health remained critical throughout her life. While she was there, she
met with key figures that were part of the abolitionist movement. The success of her
publication opened the doors for these type of opportunities: “Following the publication
25
of her book, much of Wheatley’s contemporary recognition rested on her relationships
with world leaders in the abolitionist movement in England, Europe and the American
colonies” (Hill et al 93). These relationships indicated that there were people who were
willing to help the anti-slavery cause.
Phillis Wheatley travelling in London attracted many influential figures
sympathetic to the anti-slavery cause in America. For example, Hill et al explains that,
“Through Thornton, [Phillis Wheatley] established connections with abolitionists who
were in the British parliament, continually pressing antislavery petitions” (Hill et al 93).
Phillis Wheatley found a great ally in John Thornton. Mr. Thornton was a friend of the
anti-slavery cause and he provided Wheatley with more contacts in high places:
Thornton also arranged for Phillis, while in London, to meet with the
renowned preacher George Whitfield; with the Earl of Dartmouth, who
would become the British ruling Governor of the American colonies; and
with other prominent and wealthy benefactors in the influential Chapman
society. These meetings allowed this wellspring of leadership in the
antislavery movement to further disseminate Phillis’s poetry to an everwidening audience and to use her work to decry the enslavement of such
representative creative potential. (Hill et al 92-93)
Because of the publication of Wheatley’s poetry, she gained access to influential figures
in high places who were supportive of the anti-slavery cause. This was the power of her
poetry and the effect it had on people. From this encounter, allies were made overseas in
the British parliament who advocated for anti-slavery in North America. As stated above,
while in London, Phillis Wheatley was introduced to William Legge by John Thornton.
Phillis Wheatley had already written a poem to him entitled, “The Honorable William,
Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for North-America, & c.”
26
in October of 1772. Mr. Legge would later become ‘the British ruling governor of the
American colonies’ in 1774 (Hill et al 93).
Within her short lifespan, Phillis Wheatley met with Benjamin Franklin, as well
as other political figures on both sides of the Atlantic and had a scheduled appointment
with King George III, which never happened because she had to return to America to
help assist Susannah Wheatley who was in failing health. After Susannah Wheatley’s
death, Phillis Wheatley was freed three months later. Her emancipation could have
stemmed from the Wheatleys’ embarrassment of being exposed of keeping such an
intelligent person enslaved within their home. The exact answer to their decision is
unknown to us. However, she was given her freedom in 1774, and later in 1778 she
married John Peters, a grocery store owner and part-time lawyer but all around
entrepreneur. Unfortunately, the couple struggled financially, and Wheatley died in 1784
losing three children along the way. However, Wheatley’s spirit and memory lives on
through her poetry.
One poem included in Phillis Wheatley’s book, Poems on Various Subjects,
Religious and Moral was entitled, “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, which
touched upon religion, redemption and salvation. In this poem, Wheatley employs poetic
devices such as irony, italics, symbolism, sound, intellect, emotions, visual, imagery, and
first person narration to advance the poem. Phillis Wheatley being heavily influenced by
Christianity evokes religious symbols and imagery throughout the poem:
27
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train. (1-8)
Upon coming to America, Africans were not allowed to practice their religion and they
were purposefully fed the information that in Africa they were godless pagans. Wheatley
cautiously speaks of finding God in captivity while distancing herself from proclaiming
she is happy of getting God through slavery. She is not happy about the way she was
brought to America but she is happy about finding God. Furthermore, observing lines
five and six refers to the way that Whites would look at Black people with contempt,
disdain and hate. Whites saw the color of Black skin as being associated with evil and the
devil, hence, ‘diabolic die’. However, Wheatley uses the term ‘sable race’ to argue
conversely Black people are beautiful and royal. She brings beauty, dignity and pride to
the color Black at a time when unjust enslavers tried to push the idea of the opposite.
Wheatley’s use of the word ‘sable’ is to show there is something prideful and beautiful
about the color Black.
Paying attention to the word ‘Remember’ in line seven indicates she is talking
directly to Whites, reminding the Whites that they are not the only ones that can join the
angelic train but equally so Blacks: “Remember Christians, Negroes, black as Cain/ May
be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train” (7-8). One interpretation of the poem is that it was
coded by Wheatley to say that Blacks are the ones refined joining the angelic train.
Another interpretation is that both Whites and Blacks will join the angelic train.
However, I believe that Wheatley who is practicing Christianity in a way that puts her on
the angelic train in saying that if Whites behave better they might also be able to get on
the angelic train. Thus, she is warning Whites that if they do not change their ways, then
they will not make it to heaven. This is an instance of something that is very risky for a
28
Black person to say in a poem in 1772. In effect, she is saying Blacks and Whites are
equal in the eyes of God.
Another one of Wheatley’s poems came about when Thomas Woolridge
suggested that she write a poem for William Legge (www.gilderlehrman.org). Wheatley
wrote the poem, “To The Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal
Secretary of State for North-America, & c.” for William Legge in October, 1772 before
she actually met him in London in 1773. The first verse of this poem opens with
Wheatley extending her happiness for the White colonists in their effort to separate from
the British:
Long lost to realms beneath the northern skies. (1-9)
In the second line, she points out that ‘New-England’ meaning America is venerated by
many Nations because they believe in the ideals of freedom. Wheatley is alluding to that
fact that although Whites profess to believe in freedom, they still deny Blacks their own
freedom. This type of language may seem harmless, but it is very risky for any enslaved
person in this period to be saying in their poetry.
The fourth line of the poem acknowledges the good prosperity that will be
bestowed upon America: “Dartmouth, congratulates thy blissful sway” (4). An important
word to focus on in this line is the word sway: “a swinging stroke or blow; force or
pressure bearing or inclining its object in one direction or another; prevailing,
29
overpowering, or controlling influence.” Wheatley says blissful sway because it will
mean swaying from British control to American colonists own control. The use of the
word ‘sway’ captures the metaphoric imagery of Britain’s tyrannical control sweeping
back and forth across America forcing them bend to Britain’s will. Britain consistently
taxed the American settlers and dictated their course of actions from across the Atlantic.
Wheatley’s purpose of using this word is to show the oppression and intensive control
Britain had over America. However, for Whites their fortune was changing as Wheatley
points out that their luck is swaying or swinging from bad to good.
Wheatley who had mastery and command of the English language chose her
words wisely when writing this poem for William Legge. Through this poem she is
attempting to appeal to Legge’s humanity considering that he has some form of power
and influence in America. This strategy of appealing to his humanity is seen more closely
in line 5, when she points out that White people are filled with hope in their hearts, and
their spirits have been raised from being free of Britain’s oppression. Therefore, the
White colonists of America no longer have to mourn tyranny.
At the end of verse one and beginning with verse two, Wheatley indicates that she
can truly identify with the colonists rejoicing over their newly found freedoms from
Britain. Moreover, verse two differs from verse one because it focuses more on pain and
suffering:
The owl in sadness seeks the caves of night.
30
She can sympathize with Whites wanting their freedom just like Blacks still enslaved
yearn for their freedom. In line 10, Wheatley is referring to the American colonies who
will soon be freed of the faction which divided them. In lines 15-17, she states that
America will no longer be in a ‘mournful strain’ because of the wrongs committed
against them, and then ironically she says that Whites will not have to fear iron chains
anymore.
Whites were not placed in iron chains and forced to work against their will in
America. This mentioning of iron chains is a metaphor which refers to Black people who
were actually enslaved and forced to do slave labor against their will. Wheatley is using
this metaphor to impress upon the reader that Africans would like those same freedoms
that Whites are going to gain. This denying Africans their freedom is a ‘mournful strain’
on them. Wheatley points out to the White colonists that America represents freedom and
that these ideals should also apply to everyone, not just Whites.
In the third verse, beginning with line 20, Wheatley transitions from talking to
Whites in general to talking directly to William Legge. She informs him that while he
reads her story wondering from where her love of freedom came, she already knew what
freedom was:
Was snatch’d from Afric’s fancy’d happy seat.
31
Her love of freedom came from knowing what it was like up until she was kidnapped in
Africa from her father and forced into slavery in America. Before being snatched from
her father’s arms in Africa, the young poet knew exactly what freedom was because she
already had it. The phrase ‘parent’s breast’ alludes to the heart which is associated with
love, feelings and compassion (27). Hence, heart is juxtaposed with the word steel (28).
Wheatley uses this comparison to inform Legge that Whites slave owners do not have a
feeling heart like him. Unlike him, they have hearts made of steel. When Wheatley was
writing this poem to Legge, she knew that he had a reputation for decency.
Focusing more on the word ‘peruse’ gives us some insight into Wheatley’s
strategy of employing rhetorical mode in this poem. Peruse means to read, hence, the first
the line can be interpreted as Phillis Wheatley telling Mr. Legge that she can already
presume what he is thinking about her in regards to her situation. At this point in the
poem, she is attempting to disturb his peace of mind in order to persuade him to use
whatever power he has in terms of legislature. When Wheatley speaks of the ‘common
good’, she is trying to convince Legge that the eradication of slavery would be best for
everyone. She is giving him the benefit of the doubt that he has a good heart.
Wheatley was heavily criticized by the writers and artists of the 1960s Black Arts
Movement for specific words used in this exact verse. By Wheatley writing ‘seeming
cruel fate’ it was perceived as if she did not think her fate was cruel (24). According to
the Oxford English Dictionary, the word seeming simply means to appear. Additional
meanings for seeming are deceptive and illusion. Considering these definitions changes
32
the perception of how Wheatley is viewed when using this word. In addition, the word
‘fancy’d’ meaning fancy was also misread or perceived the wrong way. The word was
interpreted as if she was romanticizing her enslavement. This is not the case though. To
put it simply, the word fancy means fantasy. According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
fancy can be defined as “to portray in the mind; to picture oneself; to conceive, imagine.”
Phillis Wheatley being young when she was kidnapped from her father’s arms can only
imagine what life used to be like in Africa. It is important to mention that Wheatley is
using lofty language in her poetry.
At the end of the third verse, Wheatley affirms that the pains she felt at a young
age, she would never wish upon anyone else: “Such, such my case. And can I then but
pray/ Others may never feel tyrannic sway?” (30-31). She shows sympathy by stating she
would not want White Americans to experience the tyranny meaning slavery that Blacks
have experienced. What is more important to make note of here is that Wheatley is
calling attention to the hypocrites who supposedly uphold freedom. She is also pointing
out that America represents freedom and that this freedom should apply to everyone.
In the last verse, Wheatley transitions from just talking about Legge to bringing in
God. She is trying to reach inside of him what would be the best of Christian behavior:
33
Wheatley is thanking Legge for all of the support he has provided Blacks in the past and
requesting that he provide further support (32-35). In addition, Wheatley indicates she is
aware that Legge did ‘deplore’ slavery once, but that all of his works in the future need to
resemble his past efforts as well. The word deplore is a strong word used here in the
poem to suggest he did not like the way Blacks were being treated. In lines 36-38, she
states that Legge’s fame for working towards the anti-slavery cause should be a continual
attempt and done not in vain. Furthermore, Wheatley requests that he remove the pain
Blacks are suffering from being enslaved. Phillis Wheatley like Martin Luther King Jr.
during the Civil Rights Movement is trying to pull out the best in White people.
In the last verse, Wheatley discusses the importance of eternal salvation. That is a
great reward she is offering him. Wheatley reminds Legge that his actions will dictate his
fate in heaven. It should be noted that she is taking the literary tradition of the time and
bringing it back to God. Wheatley is using Christianity to remind him of his religious
duty. Her strategy here is to use her writing to plea with Legge who is someone in power
that may be able to change things for enslaved Blacks. More specifically, she is trying to
accomplish this task through this specific poem. Wheatley used her poetry to move and
persuade people to consider helping the anti-slavery cause.
What is remarkable about Phillis Wheatley is that she wrote poetry to advocate
for the emancipation of Black people. She wanted her poetry to move Whites in
government positions to help the anti-slavery cause in order to emancipate enslaved
Africans. It should be noted that during her lifetime Phillis Wheatley contributed to the
effort to freeing Black people from slavery. Within the condition of the times in which
she lived, she yet put her brilliance to the cause of freeing her people.
34
It should be noted here as regards the 1960s Black Arts Movement activists,
artists and writers not finding her poetry as protest poetry that is understandable. The
rhetorical mode of the 1700s for protest poetry is not the same for the rhetorical mode of
the 1960s for protest poetry. Wheatley could say things in her poetry in a way where she
would not be attacked. More importantly, the fact that she put it in her mind to act on
behalf of her people by writing poetry and talking to political figures should indicate her
commitment to Black people. Wheatley’s poetry embodies the artistic expression of ‘art
for life’s sake’, ‘disturbatory art’ and ‘art that shakes you up’ which functioned as a
vehicle for social change and advocated for the freedom of African Americans.
35
Works Cited
Ellis, Trey. The New Black Aesthetic. Huff Post: Black Voices. The Huffington Post.
2011. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/whos-afraidof-me b 981005.html.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Phillis Wheatley’s poem on tyranny and
slavery, 1772. N.Y. Feb. 23, 2015.
Maimon, Elaine P. The New McGraw-Hill Handbook. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Co.
2007.
Wheatley, Phillis. “To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s
Principal Secretary of State for North-America, & c.” in Poems on Various
Subjects, Religious and Moral. (Pg 73). London Press. 1773.
Wheatley, Phillis. “To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s
Principal Secretary of State for North-America, & c.” in Poems on Various
Subjects, Religious and Moral. (Pg 73). London Press. 1773.
36
Chapter Five: Richard Allen
As in the previous chapter on Phillis Wheatley, this chapter, the life and works of
Richard Allen are examined in the context of what Dorothy Tsuruta defines as “art for
life’s sake”, what Arthur Danto calls "Disturbatory Art" and what Trey Ellis refers to as
“art that shakes you up” (Tsuruta 2008; Ellis 1989). This involves exploring (1) the
aesthetic dimensions of the selected poem that conveys the message of the writers, and
(2) the message itself. To this end, in analyzing the work, I apply rhetorical mode,
specifically how the writer goes about, “saying something in a certain way for a certain
reason with the self and the audience in mind” (Tsuruta 2008). Or as Maimon puts it,
rhetorical mode is the “strategy, a way or method of presenting a subject through writing
or speech. Rhetorical mode helps develop ideas, order them according to certain patterns
and also achieves a particular effect in the reader” (Maimon et al 2007).
Richard Allen was a religious leader, founder of a religious denomination,
community organizer, and a founder of a social, economic society dedicated to abolishing
slavery, emancipating enslaved Black people and improving the conditions of Black
people in general. However, he is also studied within Black literature. In a written
address given, he opposes White slave owners and their approval of the practice. Allen
was uncompromising in his condemnation of the perpetrators who participated in this
inhumane peculiar institution. He protests against the slave owners who benefits
financially off of the pain and suffering of enslaved peoples. Hence, his life as well as his
address are analyzed and explored more in detail to show he employs Tsuruta’s “art for
life’s sake", Danto’s "Disturbatory Art" and Ellis’s “art that shakes you up” (Tsuruta
2008; Ellis 1989).
37
Richard Allen was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1760, in the home of a lawyer,
Benjamin Crew. His family was all owned by Crew so he had the opportunity of growing
up among them unlike so many enslaved Black people who were sold off to different
owners, thus, breaking up countless families in the process, and some family members
never even knew each other, separated at birth or a very early age to never meet again.
Although Allen was enslaved, his upbringing in the home of a lawyer had a profound
effect on his intellectual growth:
Crew’s house was a center of political activity during the Revolutionary
War, and as a child, Allen grew up around conversations about the
doctrines and rights of freedom from such eminent Americans as George
Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Benjamin Rush—all
signers of the Declaration of Independence and authors of the Constitution
and Crew’s friends and frequent visitors (Hill et al 204).
Through these conversations, Allen’s exposure to ideals such as freedom and liberty
would later influence his understanding on equality and social justice. In 1777, Crew
eventually sold Allen, his mother and other siblings to a man named Stokeley Sturgis, a
planter from Delaware when Allen was seventeen years old. Woodson informs us that
Sturgis allowed Allen to immerse himself in Christianity. Overtime Sturgis was
overtaken and even succumbed to Allen’s religious fervor: “Feeling after his conversion
that slavery was wrong, Allen’s master permitted his bondmen to obtain their freedom”
(Woodson 73). Adams tells us that Allen and his brother during the Revolutionary War
made their money from cutting wood and hauling it in wagons (Adams 100). After Allen
and his brother earned enough money Sturgis allowed the two brothers to purchase their
freedom for the price of 2,000 dollars in the year 1783.
38
After leaving the state of Delaware, Allen journeyed to Baltimore where he
became active for some time in preaching Methodism at numerous Churches stretching
from New York to South Carolina. Allen’s fame began to spread throughout Maryland,
Delaware and Pennsylvania: “The Elder in charge in Philadelphia frequently sent for me
to come to the city” (Allen 13). Turning his attention back to Philadelphia, he would
return there in the month February of 1786. Allen was invited to speak at St. George’s
Methodist Episcopal Church. Black membership increased in the Church due to Allen’s
presence. Whites were extremely bothered by the increase in Black attendance. Allen
meeting Absolom Jones and others formed the Free African society on April 17, 1787
functioning as a social and economic organization for the needs of Black people.
Allen recognized that the White Church members were not practicing Christian
brotherhood along with the Black Church members attending there. Furthermore, Hill
informs us that “Allen was struck by the needs of African Americans and the general lack
of hospitality offered by the white congregation” (Hill et al 205). At this Church, Allen
witnessed firsthand how the Black members of the congregation were segregated and
being discriminated against by the White Church members. The Black Church members
were told they had to sit in the back and also in the rafters of the Church separate from
Whites who sat in the pews on the ground level towards the front.
Whites who professed to be Christians were not treating Blacks as fellow
Christians on the account of them being Black. Allen realized that Blacks needed to
preach to themselves independent of any White religious overseer and that Blacks were
qualified just as any White preacher was. Allen had this to say about the whole ordeal: “I
saw the necessity of erecting a place of worship for the colored people” (Allen 13). The
39
tension escalated on one Sunday morning, November 17, 1787, when Black Church
members were pulled from their knees as they were praying and dragged towards the
back of the Church. During the incident Absolom Jones, a friend of Allen’s was told that
he would have to leave while he was in the middle of prayer: “You must get up—you
must not kneel here” (Allen 15). Immediately, the Black members of the Church
immediately left together in mutual disgust. These actions prompted Absolom Jones
along with Richard Allen to depart from St. George’s Church. Allen and the Black
Church members only wanted to be treated equally and allowed to pray and worship
together with the White members of the Church.
At this point, Allen knew that he had to take a stand and do something about this
situation. Recognizing the needs of his people which needed to be addressed, Allen
decided to form his own Church. His congregation rented a storeroom where they could
conduct important meetings, have Bible study classes and hold Church services on
Sundays. Allen met with a Robert Ralston and Dr. Benjamin Rush who advised him on
what actions to take in forming his own Church.
Allen received heavy opposition from the White preachers from the Methodist
Church who threatened to publicly expel them for not abiding by the discipline of the
Methodist Church. Allen replied that they had not “violated any law of discipline of the
Methodist Church...and if there is no rule violated in the discipline we will proceed on.”
Majority of the White preachers from the Methodist Episcopal Church strongly objected
to Allen starting his own Church. Allen responded to one of the preachers from St.
George’s Church that “if you deny us your name, you cannot seal up the scriptures from
us, and deny us a name in heaven. We believe heaven is free for all who worship in spirit
40
and truth” (Allen 17). Another tactic deployed by one of the preachers was that he
pretended to sympathize with Allen’s cause and even tried to persuade him to abandon
his efforts. However, these divisive tactics would not detour Allen.
In 1794, the first Black Church in Philadelphia was built called the Mother Bethel
African Methodist Episcopal Church. This was done to satisfy the needs of Allen’s
congregation. Unfortunately, the Methodist Church still continued to block their attempts
in attaining religious independence as well as harassing Allen for the next twenty years,
thus, constantly preventing his organization from operating free of White religious
supervision (Allen 24). Woodson tells us that these tactics were counteracted through
ordaining Allen as a deacon “by [the] Bishop Ashbury in 1799, and [Allen] later attained
the status of elder” in the Church (Woodson 75). Finally in 1816, an important Court
decision was made in favor of Allen’s right to pastor his congregation without Whites
being present during the times of any Blacks preaching: “Only by command of a court
judgment in 1816 were whites legally prevented from their attempts to supervise and thus
to prevent the development of a separate organization for African Americans” (Hill et al
206). The court decision was a major victory for Allen and every Black Christian.
The Court decision allowed Blacks in Philadelphia to pastor, minister, hold
service and operate independent of White supervision in Black Churches. Allen’s
sermons in Church also spoke about other matters which affected the Black community:
“But Allen’s churches were more than religious platforms. They formed fulcrums of
antislavery protest; provided the nucleus of charitable care for indigent Africans in the
American colonies; and occasioned hundreds of political statements, legal petitions,
newspapers editorials and other forms of antislavery protest”. This Court decision along
41
with Allen’s actions would influence numbers of Blacks across America to take his lead
and implement this same approach: “...other cities followed this example, organizing
what were known as African Methodist Episcopal churches in Baltimore; Wilmington;
Attleboro, Pennsylvania; and Salem, New Jersey” (Woodson 75). Other A.M.E. Churches
were formed in Maryland, New York and Delaware. Many Black Churches began to
emerge, following Allen’s example and preaching without any White religious overseers
dictating to them what would be the destiny of the Black Church.
Allen was a remarkable leader in the Black community providing a religious
example for others to follow. He was the founder of the AME Church; this religious
institution constituted the first Black organized denomination in America. Allen along
with Absolom Jones and others created the Free African Society in 1787, which fought
slavery and aided in the emancipation of enslaved Black people. In 1816, he was
appointed as the first Bishop for the A.M.E. Church. For many years, Allen fought the
Methodist Episcopal Church which was a White dominated religious establishment. It
should be noted that although Allen was a free man, he still felt it was necessary to speak
out against slavery and detest the slave owner’s right to own slaves.
Ultimately, Allen’s address was aimed to further the anti-slavery cause in order to
abolish slavery. He wanted to change the attitudes that existed in the minds of the White
slave owners which could lead to the abolishment of slavery and improve the conditions
of Blacks. Allen died in March 26, 1831 leaving a rich legacy. Hill et al point out that
“Allen’s legacy to African Americans is immeasurable, and the full record of his
contribution to the eventual freedom of all blacks some thirty years later has yet to be
fully explored” (Hill et al 206). Allen’s achievements and accomplishments have
42
contributed much to the advancement of Black people and Black Churches and it is
because of this reason that Allen will always be a prominent figure in Black literature,
Black community organizing and among Black religious institutions.
Allen wrote and delivered in person before an audience “An Address to Those
Who Keep Slaves and Approve the Practice” in 1793 in which he spoke out against the
enslavement of Black people. An examination of his rhetorical mode, begins with the
title. The title itself is indication of how he is going to address this audience. The title is
practically shouting out at the audience. Allen’s position and attitude on the matter. He
begins the first paragraph of the address by making a case for the feeling and thinking
humanity of Black people:
The judicious part of mankind will think it unreasonable that a superior
good conduct is looked for from our race, by those who stigmatize us as
men, whose baseness is incurable, and may therefore be held in a state of
servitude, that a merciful man would not doom a beast to; yet you try what
you can to prevent our rising from a state of barbarism you represent us to
be in, but we can tell you from a degree of experience that a black man,
although reduced to the most abject state human nature is capable of, short
of real madness, can think, reflect, and feel injuries, although it may not be
with the same degree of keen resentment and revenge that you who have
been and are our great oppressors would manifest if reduced to the pitiable
condition of a slave. (Allen 51-52)
Allen makes the argument that Black people have been forced into a “state of servitude”
by Whites and this is the reason for their social and economic condition (Allen 52). He
finds it ironic that on the one hand, the enslavers prevent the enslaved from elevating out
of slavery yet on the other hand they blame the enslaved Black people for the “state of
barbarism” forced upon them under threat of death or torture to them or their loved ones
and friends should they seek to escape or revolt.
43
Allen, in a tone of exasperation (rhetorical mode), protests the enslavers’
unbearable, inhumane treatment of Black people, and compares that to their treatment of
animals which is humane in comparison. He accuses the enslavers of being without
mercy when he says they do to Black people what “a merciful man would not doom a
beast to.” Allen is arguing that slavery's forced condition on human beings is a horrible
indictment against the moral villains who commit such crimes against humanity.
Furthermore, he tells the white villains that if they were "reduced to the pitiable condition
of a slave" they would be in a hellish state of resentment and revenge.
Allen, ahead of his times, argues for the education of Black people, just as Whites
make a case for educating their own children:
We believe if you would try and cultivate their minds with the same care
and let them have the same prospect in view as to living in the world, as
you would wish for your own children, you would not find upon the trial,
they were not inferior in mental endowments.
The point of Allen making this statement is to inform Whites that if Blacks had the same
opportunities and resources as Whites then they would be in a better social and economic
position too. Moreover, he is calling attention to the fact that Black children require the
same type of investment that White children receive; hence, Blacks would be successful
in society as well.
For a brief moment, or second, it seems, Allen, rhetorically, alters his tone to
almost apologetically appease the enslavers by saying he does not wish to anger them (as
though to do some damage control). Yet in the same breath and sentence he uses the
word "excite" to explain matters. He wants them to be excited about the idea of
abolishing slavery. Rhetorically, he is bringing in a softer tone in order to calm down the
44
enslavers in the audience who may have become upset upon hearing Allen, a Black man,
taking advantage of their attending his address, to tell them off.
Like Phillis Wheatley in the literary conventions of the day, Allen reminds the
enslavers that God does not like evil—that slavery is detestable to God:
I do not wish to make you angry, but excite your attention to consider how
hateful slavery is in the sight of that God who hath destroyed kings and
princes for their oppression of the poor slaves. Pharaoh and his princes,
with the prosperity of King Saul, were destroyed by the protector and
avenger of slaves.
Allen employs images and metaphors from Biblical stories to show examples of enslavers
in the past who were punished by God because they enslaved people. Allen is using
rhetorical mode in a way to get across to White Christians that they can suffer the
punishment of the Egyptians and Pharaohs of old, unless they release Black people from
slavery. Allen is simultaneously appealing to the enslavers' fear of God, and appealing to
the enslavers' egos by raising them to the status of royalty when making the allusions to
Kings and Princes.
In the next passage, Allen anticipates that the enslavers in the audience consider
themselves to be better than other enslavers and will probably be excusing themselves by
claiming that Blacks would not know how to live and take care of themselves if made
free from the slave owners. Allen comprehends quite well that these types of arguments
and thinking are nothing more than excuses made to keep Blacks enslaved, so he
expresses to the Whites in the audience that he understands in advance there is most
likely going to be a stage of transitioning from the inhumanity of the cruel slave
conditions to that of free cultivated people just like the Jews went through when they
escaped from Egypt and attained their freedom:
45
Would you not suppose the Israelites to be utterly unfit for freedom, and
that it was impossible for them, to obtain to any degree of excellence?
Their history shows how slavery had debased their spirits. Men must be
willfully blind, and extremely partial, that cannot see the contrary effects
of liberty and slavery upon the mind of man; I truly confess the vile habits
often acquired in a state of servitude, are not easily thrown off; the
example of the Israelites shows, who with all that Moses could do to
reclaim them from it, still continued in their habits more or less; and why
will you look for better from us, why will you look for grapes from thorns,
or figs from thistles? It is in our posterity enjoying the same privileges
with your own, that you ought to look for better things.
Allen reassures the Whites that he knows that the Blacks might go through some
problems along the way just like the Israelites did before them, but Black former slaves
will refine themselves and raise their condition once emancipated. In addition, he asks the
enslavers earnestly not to follow in Pharaoh’s footsteps because God does not approve of
enslaving people and punishes the perpetrators who keep slaves and approve the practice.
Interestingly enough, throughout this passage Allen is comparing the plight of the
Israelites with that of Blacks in America so that Whites can see the severity of their faults
in enslaving Black people and hopefully move towards abolishing slavery and
emancipating Blacks.
Allen makes the case that God is on the side of enslaved Blacks as God was on
the side of Hebrews enslaved under Pharaoh’s rule in Egypt: “We wish you to consider,
that God himself was the first pleader of the cause of slaves” (Allen 53). Allen is warning
the white villains that God doesn’t condone slavery. He cites the story of the exodus from
the Bible to illustrate his point.
Allen is aware of the fact that Whites might be afraid of an emancipated Black
populace seeking revenge. Their fear would definitely prevent Whites from granting
46
Blacks their freedom or working with them towards this goal. This concern is treated
delicately by Allen to assure Whites that no harm or violence will come to them:
That God, who knows the hearts of all men, and the propensity of a
slave to hate his oppressor, hath strictly forbidden it to his chosen people,
"Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his
land." Deut. 23, 7. The meek and humble Jesus, the great pattern of
humanity, and every other virtue that can adorn and dignify men, hath
commanded to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate and
despitefully use us. I feel the obligations, I wish to impress them on the
minds of our colored brethren, and that we may all forgive you, as we
wish to be forgiven, we think it a great mercy to have all anger and
bitterness removed from our minds.
He is attempting to relieve Whites by stating God forbids revenge and that Blacks will
not hurt them in retaliation. Rhetorically, Allen speaks of forgiveness by invoking Jesus
who forgave his torturers. Allen reassures Whites that just as he personally advocates on
behalf of his enslaved brothers and sisters, he would also work to assure that Blacks will
not retaliate against their oppressors once they are freed.
Allen uses another rhetorical tactic to urge Whites to free enslaved Black people.
He comes right out by appealing to their feelings. Allen asserts that Whites must treat
Black people as they would anyone else in their life with compassions and love: “If you
love your children, if you love your country, if you love the God of love, clear your hands
from slaves.” He reminds them that in continuing slavery, they are putting the sinful
burden of being enslavers on their children to deal with, which is an inhumane
inheritance. Slavery in America is referred to as the "Peculiar Institution." (See Appendix
on the Peculiar Institution). Allen's intent is to excite Whites to examine themselves as
claiming to be Christians while participating in slavery-thus to get them to stop being
enslavers.
47
Allen charges the White enslavers to do something about the conditions of Black
people, and face the fact that if Black people were committed to rebelling against Whites
then many people would assuredly be attacked and killed. The truth in this statement is
easily documented by researching the many insurrections that were taking place
throughout America by enslaved people:
Will you, because you have reduced us to the unhappy condition our color
is in, plead our incapacity for freedom, and our contented condition under
oppression, as a sufficient cause for keeping us under the grievous yoke. I
have shown the cause, — I will also show why they appear contented as
they can in your sight, but the dreadful insurrections they have made when
opportunity has offered, is enough to convince a reasonable man, that
great uneasiness and not contentment, is the inhabitant of their hearts
(Allen 53-54)
Allen is trying multiple approaches throughout this address in order to put into the minds
of White slave owners that their participation and condoning of slavery could ultimately
result in their destruction by God, or even the very people they keep in bondage.
At the end of the address, Allen returns to invoking God as himself being against
slavery. This rhetorical angle is taken to instill into the minds of the White enslavers that
slavery is not only a crime against humanity, but also a crime against God:
God himself hath pleaded their cause, he hath from time to time raised up
instruments for that purpose, sometimes mean and contemptible in your
sight, at other times he hath used such as it hath pleased him, with whom
you have not thought it beneath your dignity to contend. Many have been
convinced of their error, condemned their former conduct, and become
zealous advocates for the cause of those, whom you will not suffer to
plead for themselves. (Allen 54)
Allen is talking to the White enslavers as if he is a messenger for God who will surely
punish them for their sins. The point of employing this rhetorical strategy is to put fear
into their hearts and minds to persuade them to do the right thing. Allen’s intention here
48
is to disturb (i.e. disturbotary art) the minds of the White enslavers to make them change
their ways and release Blacks from slavery. It is important to note that Allen in closing
this address brings it back to God in order to leave the White enslavers with ideals of
freedom, equality and divine punishment for them to meditate on and reflect. Allen goes
on to such great lengths in this address to shake the moral conscious of White enslavers
so that their actions and involvement in slavery will cease and desist.
49
Works Cited
Adams, Russell L. Great Negroes Past and Present. Chicago, IL: Afro-Am Publishing
Co, Inc. 1984. 3rd ed.
Allen, Richard. “An Address to Those Who Keep Slaves and Approve the Practice” The
Life, Experience, and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen. Philadelphia,
PA: Published by F. Ford & A. Riply. 1880.
Ellis, Trey. The New Black Aesthetic. Huff Post: Black Voices. The Huffington Post.
2011. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trev-ellis/whos-afraidof-me b 981005.html.
Maimon, Elaine P. et al. The New McGraw-Hill Handbook. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill
Co. 2007.
Woodson, Carter G. The History of the Negro Church. Washington, D.C.: The Associated
Publishers. 1921.
50
Conclusion
Phillis Wheatley and Richard Allen created art for life sake to fight oppression
and emancipate African Americans. Both Phillis Wheatley and Richard Allen wrote in
the literary conventions of the time. Elements of their rhetorical mode carry who they are
as artists and enhance our appreciation of them. However, the two writers achieve their
literary advocacy in different ways. For example, Wheatley poetically in Christian trope
makes a point of rejoicing with Whites when they overthrow the British, in order to get
Whites colonists to rejoice with Blacks when their oppression ends. And Allen works
through prose, as Muhammad Ali with fists, "To Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" to
make a point that white enslavers must be defeated in their crime of denying Black
people the opportunity that whites give themselves to live life fully satisfied in selfactualization.
Both writers speak of the misery of Black people in their works. In her poem “To
the Right Honorable William”, Phillis Wheatley writes “Steel’d was that soul and by no
misery mov’d/That from a father seiz’d his babe belov’d” (28-29). In these lines,
Wheatley speaks of how she was snatched from her father’s breast and forced into
slavery at a very young age. And Richard Allen describes the misery when he says “Men
must be willfully blind and extremely partial, that cannot see the contrary effects of
liberty and slavery upon the mind of man” (Hill et al 207). Of great significance,
“misery” is a factor in two of the greatest works of the 18th century on the slave
experience in America. Misery as inflicted by inhumane enslavers is given graphic
description by both Wheatley and Allen.
51
Both writers implicate people who stand by and let slavery happen. Allen comes
right out and tells Whites that they who enslave Black people and try to justify doing so,
are committing an injustice; while Wheatley orchestrates the attention of whites to their
compliance with slavery. Although their tones are different in delivery, they both address
the villains because of the crimes they have committed against Black people.
Another similarity identified in both writers’ works is when they are making the
case that White people refuse to see Black humanity. This theme resonates today with the
national slogan “Black Lives Matter”. The Black community and their diverse supporters
are still trying to wake-up America to the reality that Black people matter too. Behind the
phrase though, is a deeper message. The message implies that Black people deserve the
same of respect, dignity and justice just as White people demand for themselves.
Wheatley’s and Allen’s works are just as important in the 1700s as they are right now in
2015.
Phillis Wheatley and Richard Allen 1700s took risks in speaking out against
slavery. Considering all of the injustices, atrocities and horrors that took place in the
1700s, it is understandable that violence and death could occur to any Black person
enslaved or free speaking out against slavery through their writing, speeches and
sermons. Hence, both took calculated risks.
Allen’s address was straight forward and to the point not needing much
interpretation. This type of prose is ideal and would have been desirable for the Black arts
movement. Within A.M.E. and Black Nationalist theological circles during the 1960s,
Allen’s approach would have been deemed acceptable and looked upon to for inspiration.
However, although Wheatley' softer rhetorical tone did not jump out in the list of the
52
poems that carried the Black Arts movement of the 1960s during which strident voices
deplored racism in words and actions, she was indeed an activist voice in taking great
risks as an enslaved Black person of that period.
In different periods in different places the writer’s rhetorical mode worked for the
message that change was needed. It is important to show that Wheatley was speaking to
people who considered themselves Christians yet practiced slavery, so her way of
speaking to them was quite different than say Amiri Baraka would speak to Whites in the
1960s. However, Wheatley contested slavery through her poetry in hopes of abolishing
slavery and attaining freedom for the masses of enslaved Black people. What is
remarkable about Phillis Wheatley and Richard Allen is that their writing functioned as a
tool in the fight against slavery, oppression and injustice.
What comes out of this research is the rich literary legacy and tradition of African
American writing. The concept of art for life’s sake is important today for the younger
generation of Ethnic Studies, Black Studies, African American Studies, Africana Studies,
and Africology Studies scholars when approaching literature that informs of the historical
legacy. The selected Black writers in this thesis represent the collective voice of the
people. They are important to educate today that people must assume agency in an
oppressive system and how writing can be employed to that end. That is the power of “art
for life’s sake". Further, “art for life’s sake” has a purpose or function as it seeks to
transform society through art. Phillis Wheatley’s and Richard Allen’s work figure in
African American literature that is “art for life’s sake”, “disturbatory art”, and “art that
shakes you up”
53
Suggested Future Study:
The present study examined two writers of the 18th century. Suggested further
study of 18th century writers would be on Jupiter Hammon, Lucy Terry, Absolom Jones,
and Prince Hall.
54
Appendix
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)
Drawing of Phillis Wheatley inside of her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious
and Moral:
N
eoro
S i r v a n t t o Mr . J o h n W
o f B o st on , in N
Printed for A, B i n ,
RtWifhcc! nw>nltt^;to.\d of&riiameiit ,S<*pt!1.\ J J 3 torArch.
ew
h ea t l e
Y,
E ngland.
Bookfclkr,
Aldgmte; ta d fc!d b j
Mcflh. C o x a o d B if c f c ir , King Stm l, MQSTQN*
M DCC LKW i
HtxjkrdlerN?8ne«rth€*Snraccit» Head Ald$ite.
—
Source: https://blogs.welleslev.edu/rare/2012/01/26/celebrating-black-historvmonth/wheatlev/
55
: Wheatley's complete Poems:
“On Being Brought from Africa to America”
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train. (1-8).
Source: http://www.poetrvfoundation.org/poem/174733
“To The Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of
State for North-America, & c.” by Phillis Weatley
Long lost to realms beneath the northern skies
The owl in sadness seeks the caves of night. (1-14)
Verse 2:
Verse 3
Was snatch’d from Afric ’s fancy’d happy seat.
Verse 4
Source: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177177
Phillis Wheatley’s “To S.M., A Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works”
To show the lab’ring bosom’s deep intent,
And thought in living characters to paint,
When first thy pencil did those beauties give,
And breathing figures learnt from thee to live,
How did those prospects give my soul delight,
A new creation rushing on my sight!
Still, wondrous youth! each noble path pursue;
On deathless glories fix thine ardent view:
Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire,
To aid thy pencil and thy verse conspire!
And may the charms of each seraphic theme
Conduct thy footsteps to immortal fame!
High to the blissful wonders of the skies
Elate thy soul, and raise thy wishful eyes.
Thrice happy, when exalted to survey
57
That splendid city, crowned with endless day,
Whose twice six gates on radiant hinges ring:
Celestial Salem blooms in endless spring.
Calm and serene thy moments glide along,
And may the muse inspire each future song!
Still, with the sweets of contemplation blessed,
May peace with balmy wings your soul invest!
But when these shades of time are chased away,
And darkness ends in everlasting day,
On what seraphic pinions shall we move,
And view the landsapes in the realms above!
There shall thy tongue in heavenly murmurs flow,
And there my muse with heavenly transport glow;
No more to tell of Damon’s tender sighs,
Or rising radiance of Aurora’s eyes;
For nobler themes demand a nobler strain,
And purer language on the ethereal plain.
Cease, gentle Muse! the solemn gloom of night
Now seals the fair creation from my sight. (1-34)
Source: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/sm-young-african-painter-seeing-his-works
58
A map of Senegal where Phillis Wheatley was born and kidnapped from:
Source: http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/senegal.html
Phillis Wheatley was enslaved in her home country, Senegal, in a region that is now
Gambia. The explanation for the name change of this region is that during the Congo
Conferences of 1884 and 1885 that took place in Berlin, boundary lines were arbitrarily
drawn on the map of Africa to divide African pieces of land among what various
European Nations. After the lines were drawn up to distinguish which European Nations
would colonize and occupy which African territories, a stronger form of colonization setin. For more information on this conference, it is commonly referred to as the “Scramble
for Africa.” Once Phillis Wheatley arrived in America, the exact location was at slave
auction block in Boston, Massachusetts. What is interesting about Massachusetts is that
this state was the first slave-holding colony in the New Colonies.
59
: The Church that the Wheatley attended with Phillis was called the Old South Meeting
House:
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis Wheatlev#/media/File:01d South Meetinghouse B
w -.)Pg
60
: Phillis Wheatley’s Tombstone:
PHILLIS
W HEATLEY
c a .1 7 5 3 - 1 7 8 4
H n l c i n j c flic close contracted mind,
ty fn d f i l l it w i f h ik y Jive.
Source: http://www.pennycolman.com/img/PoetsCorner_PhillisWheatley.jpg
61
: Richard Allen (1760-1831)
Photo of Richard Allen
Source: http://upl0
ad.wikimedia.0
rg/wikipedia/c0
mm0
ns/f/ff/Richard_Allen_cr0
p.jpg:
62
Richard Allen’s Address: “An Address To Those Who Keep Slaves and Approve the
Practice”
The judicious part of mankind will think it unreasonable that a superior good conduct is
looked for from our race, by those who stigmatize us as men, whose baseness is
incurable, and may therefore be held in a state of servitude, that a merciful man would
not doom a beast to; yet you try what you can to prevent our rising from a state of
barbarism you represent us to be in, but we can tell you from a degree of experience that
a black man, although reduced to the most abject state human nature is capable of, short
of real madness, can think, reflect, and feel injuries, although it may not be with the same
degree of keen resentment and revenge that you who have been and are our great
oppressors would manifest if reduced to the pitiable condition of a slave. We believe if
you would try the experiment of taking a few black children, and cultivate their minds
with the same care, and let them have the same prospect in view as to living in the world,
as you would wish for your own children, you would find upon the trial, they were not
inferior in mental endowments. I do not wish to make you angry, but excite attention to
consider how hateful slavery is in the sight of that God who hath destroyed kings and
princes for their oppression of the poor slaves. Pharaoh and his princes with the posterity
of king Saul, were destroyed by the protector and avenger of slaves. Would you not
suppose the Israelites to be utterly unfit for freedom, and that it was impossible for them,
to obtain to any degree of excellence? Their history shows how slavery had debased their
spirits. Men must be willfully blind, and extremely partial, that cannot see the contrary
effects of liberty and slavery upon the mind of man; I truly confess the vile habits often
acquired in a state of servitude, are not easily thrown off; the example of the Israelites
shows, who with all that Moses could do to reclaim them from it, still continued in their
habits more or less; and why will you look for better from us, why will you look for
grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? It is in our posterity enjoying the same
privileges with your own, that you ought to look for better things.
When you are pleaded with, do not you reply as Pharaoh did, "Wherefore do ye Moses
and Aaron let the people from their work, behold the people of the land now are many,
and you make them rest from their burthens." We wish you to consider that God himself
was the first pleader of the cause of slaves.
That God who knows the hearts of all men, and the propensity of a slave to hate his
oppressor, hath strictly forbidden it to his chosen people, "Thou shalt not abhor an
Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land." Deut. 23. 7. The meek and humble
Jesus, the great pattern of humanity, and every other virtue that can adorn and dignify
men, hath commanded to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate and despitefully
use us. I feel the obligations, I wish to impress them on the minds of our colored brethren,
63
and that we may all forgive you, as we wish to be forgiven, we think it a great mercy to
have all anger and bitterness removed from our minds; I appeal to your own feelings, if it
is not very disquieting to feel yourselves under dominion of wrathful disposition.
If you love your children, if you love your country, if you love the God of love, clear
your hands from slaves, burthen not your children or your country with them, my heart
has been sorry for the blood shed of the oppressors, as well as the oppressed, both appear
guilty of each others blood, in the sight of him who hath said, he that sheddeth man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed.
Will you, because you have reduced us to the unhappy condition our color is in, plead
our incapacity for freedom, and our contented condition under oppression, as a sufficient
cause for keeping us under the grievous yoke. I have shown the cause, — I will also show
why they appear contented as they can in your sight, but the dreadful insurrections they
have made when opportunity has offered, is enough to convince a reasonable man, that
great uneasiness and not contentment, is the inhabitant of their hearts. God himself hath
pleaded their cause, he hath from time to time raised up instruments for that purpose,
sometimes mean and contemptible in your sight, at other times he hath used such as it
hath pleased him, with whom you have not thought it beneath your dignity to contend.
Many have need convinced of their error, condemned their former conduct, and become
zealous advocates for the cause of those, whom you will not suffer to plead for
themselves.
Source: http://www.ushistory.org/documents/richardallen.htm Map of Philadelphia where
Richard Allen was born lived.
64
Source:
https://www.google.com/search?q=map+of+philadelphia+in+1760&rlz= 1C 1SFXN_enU
S598US600&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=4dheVd_xGsThoA
TD_oPEDA&ved=0CC AQsAQ&biw= 1366&bih=667#imgrc=isOGR6xIRjCLM%253A%3BmYxQVlZtuZInJM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fphiladelphiaen
cyclopedia.org%252Fwpcontent%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F08%252FSlidel.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%2
52Fphiladelphiaencyclopedia.org%252Farchive%252Fphiladelphia-and-its-people-inmaps-the-1790s%252F%3B807%3B575
65
: Picture of the Mother Bethel African Methodist Church in Philadelphia
Source: http://www.motherbethel.org/church.php
66
: Info about Richard Allen founding of the AME church:
Richard Allen was invited to speak at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church.
Black membership increased in the Church due to Allen’s presence. Whites were
extremely bothered by the increase in Black attendance. Allen meeting Absolom
Jones and others formed the Free African society on April 17, 1787 functioning as
a social and economic organization for the needs of Black people. At the St.
George Church, Allen witnessed firsthand how the Black members of the
congregation were segregated and being discriminated against by the White
Church members. The Black Church members were told they had to sit in the
back and also in the rafters of the Church separate from Whites who sat in the
pews on the ground level towards the front. The tension escalated on one Sunday
morning, November 17, 1787, when Black Church members were pulled from
their knees as they were praying and dragged towards the back of the Church.
During the incident Absolom Jones, a friend of Allen’s was told that he would
have to leave while he was in the middle of prayer that he had to get up and leave.
Immediately, the Black members of the Church immediately left together in
mutual disgust. These actions prompted Absolom Jones along with Richard Allen
to depart from St. George’s Church. Allen and the Black Church members only
wanted to be treated equally and allowed to pray and worship together with the
White members of the Church. Recognizing the needs of his people which needed
to be addressed, Allen decided to form his own Church. His congregation rented a
storeroom where they could conduct important meetings, have Bible study classes
and hold Church services on Sundays. In 1794, the first Black Church in
Philadelphia was built called the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal
Church. Richard Allen would have to wait for over 20 years. In 1816, there was a
court decision which was a major victory for Allen and every Black Christian.
The Court decision allowed Blacks in Philadelphia to pastor, minister, hold
service and operate independent of White supervision in Black Churches. This
Court decision along with Allen’s actions would influence numbers of Blacks
across America to take his lead and implement this same approach. Other A.M.E.
Churches were formed in Maryland, New York and Delaware. Many Black
Churches began to emerge, following Allen’s example and preaching without any
White religious overseers dictating to them what would be the destiny of the
Black Church.
Source: Hill, Patricia Liggins. Call and Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African
67
FOR INFORMATION ON THE 18TH CENTURY AND LITERATURE:
Source:
http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfarAVorksheet%20on%20the%20Age%20of%20Reason.ht
m
FOR INFORMATION ON THE PECULIAR INSTITUTION:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/27.asp

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