PPhillis Wheatley is the first published African-American female poet, which makes it important to see how she, as an enslaved black woman at that time, used her pen to write about the issues that concerned her. I will argue that Phillis Wheatley fails to make an effective case for racial equality in her poems. I will show that the objections that have been leveled against that she fails to make an effective case can be rebutted by the following evidence that firstly, Wheatley did not show a negative attitude for she was brought to America because of slavery. Secondly, she praises the white leaders for fighting America’s freedom from Britain’s rule, while America’s freedom from Britain would not help the racial inequality. I will admit that there is evidence in her poems that she speaks up for the racial inequality that the Blacks and Whites should be equal as all mankind should be and that desires a change towards that. But, as Wheatley being a pious Christian, she places her hope on Christianity which is the religion of people who enslaved her race, which makes her thoughts very idealistic. Therefore, leading a failure in making an effective case for the blacks’ equality in the race.
In the following sections, I am going to select some of her poems and examine them in order to support my viewpoints. I will start by examining poems to support my arguments for that she failed to make an effective case for racial equality and then later, use other poems to elaborate the possible objection views. In the end, I will further clarify the flaws in the counterarguments in order to strengthen my conclusion.
I will begin my argument by examining her poems “One being brought from Africa to America”, and “To His Excellency General Washington”.
In this section, I will be analyzing some parts of her poem “One being brought from Africa to America” to show that she appreciated her arrival in America by means of slavery. In one line Wheatley states that “’TWAS mercy brought me from Pagan land”(“One being brought from Africa to America,” line 1). Here she is saying that it was "mercy" that brought her to America, which is surprising because the “mercy” would mean the act of slavery and the desire of money of the Americans that time who wanted to gain their maximum profits from exploiting the black slaves. Instead of “mercy”, it is the sins of the whites that brought her to America. To the whites, it was not mercy that made them decide to enslave Africans like Phillis Wheatley from their homeland, but their greed, which is very far away from the definition of mercy. If it would be mercy, the blacks would be treated equally and with kind which is not true in the history. “Pagan” means “A person not subscribing to any major or recognized religion, esp. the dominant religion of a particular society; spec. a heathen, a non-Christian, esp. considered as savage, uncivilized, etc. Now chiefly hist.”(Oxford English Dictionary), which for “my Pagan land” means Africa, the land that doesn’t hold Christianity religion, unlike America. She might also have alluded that her “Pagan land” is uncivilized, unlike America that has the dominant religion Christianity which she herself is devoted to. It is clear that as a devoted Christian, she thinks that it was the act of God, the act of mercy that brought her to America, while she fails to see that it was unjust for her race to be enslaved by the Whites that are too Christians. She also uses “brought” both in the title of the poem and the first line of the poem, which seems way too subtle comparing to enslaving, in which the whites used violence to force them to leave their home and they basically took them to America without their consent. In contrast to being taken by violence, “brought” shows that she did not come to the realization that the action of the whites enslaving the Africans to America was negative.
Following the first line of “One being brought from Africa to America”, she continues, saying “Taught my benighted soul to understand That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too”(“One being brought from Africa to America,” line 2 and line 3). What she is saying is that since she was brought from Africa to America by mercy, she learned that America has a god, a savior too. The word she uses here “taught” puts herself to a lower position than the white people. It creates an image of a black slave that is appreciated to be taught and learns actively about God and Christianity. Instead if speaking against the racial inequality, her words put herself in a low position on the racial case in terms that she thinks it was mercy" that brought her to America instead of the sinful slavery.
In this section, I will be discussing the poem “To His Excellency General Washington.” , that she praises a leader of the white Americans who are fighting for the independence of America from Britain’s control while not mentioning about the racial issue that she could write to him to urge him to change. Interestingly, she only mentions how she is excited for the freedom of America and supportive to George Washington while ignoring that with the coming of that freedom would not guarantee the freedom of the enslaved. In the introduction, she states “I have taken the freedom to address your Excellency in the enclosed poem”, again, showing her submissiveness as she explains that it was the freedom that gave her the chance to address him in the poem. It was not even that she would talk about something with him, merely just to address his name, while this cost was the fact that she had finally gained freedom which was a big step and a very hard step out of the slavery. The star contrast further shows her submissiveness. Besides, Phillis Wheatley could not show more praising and admiration towards George Washington throughout the poem.
Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,
Thy ev’ry action let the Goddess guide.
A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,
With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! Be thine. (“To His Excellency General Washington,” line 39-42)
In this section of her poem, Wheatley is calling him the “great chief”, and states that the virtue will be on his side to help him and assures his success with the guide of Goddess. She shows her patriotism towards Washington and her ultimate support towards him and wishes him all the good and all the success in the wars to free America. However, in fact, George Washington had kept a lot of slaves for all his life long until he died. Praising a leader that himself has slaves and who was not taking action to this issue shows that Phillis Wheatley as a black poet did not make her effort towards the racial inequality problem at that time. Rather than that, she plays a role of more of a white person who was concerned about their freedom instead of a used-to-be enslaved black person. The freedom of America from Britain was not relatable to the slavery as if the freedom would happen it would not change the situation of the blacks in America. The honorable and excellent Washington and his parties were exactly the ones who supported slavery. But Phillis Wheatley does not mention this or question this on behalf of all the blacks but focuses her interest more on the freedom of America solely. Thus, fails to make an effective case for the racial equality issue.
Having argued for the view that Phillis Wheatley fails to make an effective case for racial equality for she shows much submissiveness to the whites and praises a leader who owns black slaves, I now wish to consider rival views. Some people might say that Phillis Wheatley does make arguments for racial equality because she urges the students to make a change and also she mentions that all the race should be equal in front of God in her poems. Also, some are lead to believe that in “One being brought from Africa to America” rather than she actually means what she says, she uses an ironic tone. Therefore, in the next sections, I will be talking about “One being brought from Africa to America” from another perspective and her poem “To the University of Cambridge, in New England”.
In “One being brought from Africa to America”, she writes “Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, May be refined, and join the’ angelic train.”(“One being brought from Africa to America,” line 7-8), which indicates that she thinks that all of them, the blacks and whites, are going to be saved in heaven and are equal in heaven. This shows that Phillis Wheatley does think that the races should be equal at the end of their lives and in front of God, as Christianity implies that all the people should be equal.
Also, some people would object to my argument on “One being brought from Africa to America” that Phillis Wheatley uses an ironic tone to express her negative feeling for slavery. As she states “That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too” (“One being brought from Africa to America,” line 3), and since she stresses that there is a savior “too”, she is alluding that there is savior in her Pagan land and she had been saved already when she was free there, while ironically in America, where there is a savior too for her, she still remains as a slave, a person without freedom.
In this section, I would consider another counterclaim. Some people may say that Phillis Wheatley was making an argument and an urge for the whites to change on the case of racial equality in “To the University of Cambridge, in New England”, as she warns the privileged white students to be against the sins when they are still in the position of being privileged.
Improve your privileges while they stay,
Ye pupils, and each hour redeem, that bears
Or good or bad report of you to heav'n.
Let sin, that baneful evil to the soul,
By you be shun'd, nor once remit your guard;
Suppress the deadly serpent in its egg.
Ye blooming plants of human race divine,
An Ethiop tells you 'tis your greatest foe;
Its transient sweetness turns to endless pain,
And in immense perdition sinks the soul. (“To the University of Cambridge, in New England,” line 21-30)
Phillis Wheatley is saying to her audience, the white students, who are privileged in terms of receiving the best education and wisdom, to guard themselves against the sins. As she says “Improve your privileges while they stay” (“To the University of Cambridge, in New England” line 21), she is talking about they should grasp the opportunity to guard themselves against the sins and evil while they still are privileged. This privilege for the moment is staying with them which for Wheatley was a luck and hard work to gain. In contrast to her being brought from Africa “the land of errors”, she is urging those who already have privilege on this term to make a change. In the poem, she is possibly depicting the sins as slavery.
However, these counterarguments would fail because of the following reasonings that I would present. First of all, there is little chance that Phillis Wheatley was ironic in the poem “One being brought from Africa to America” because in almost all the poems she shows her sincere devotion towards God and Christianity. It would not be convincing to consider that she was being ironic when addressing on her religion. Secondly, though she thinks that the blacks and whites are going to be equal in front of heaven’s gate, she is depending this on Christianity because Christian believe that everyone should be equal. Her hope is given by God. Christianity is also the religion of the Americans and the whites that enslaved the Africans, while she is depending on her hope on their religion, it makes her case on racial quality idealistic and weak. Furthermore, even though she might have urged the students to guard themselves against sins, she still uses the concept of Christianity and also she puts herself on a submissive position that she comes from the “land of errors”.
It would seem then that though it cannot be denied that Wheatley shows evidence that she was being aware of the racial issue in America, she couldn’t make an effective case on it because generally, she depends on her hope on the religion of the whites who enslave the blacks and put herself most of the time in a seemly submissive position. This might be due to the fact that as an enslaved black female she could not find her own identity expect as a Christian that advocates the equality of all human beings, and since from that certain perspective, her poems does not make an efficient case on racial equality.
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