Category: Phillis Wheatley

For many people, the American colonies was a chance to start anew, as they sought to escape political oppression, to be able to practice their religion, or for new opportunities that had been denied to them back home. This was the case for J. Hector St. John Crèvecoeur and Phillis Wheatley, as they both were…

‘To the University of Cambridge, in New-England’ is an early poem by Phyllis Whitley, the first black woman to publish poetry in English. In this poem, Whitley pleads with a group of new Harvard students to be good Christians and never forget the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice for humanity. The poem is a kind of…

In Crevecoeurs Letters from an American Farmer and the assigned poems of Phillis Wheatley, both authors use their unique backgrounds to discuss the complex and often opposing views of society in British America. Told from the perspective of a fictional narrator in correspondence with a gentleman, Crevecoeurs Letters describe British society as revolutionary yet overshadows…

Freedom in British America Crevecoeur through the persona of James writes letters to an Englishman and describes what life is like in America. Phillis Wheatley, a slave who came to the colonies as a child, received an education from her Christian owners and began to write poems on various aspects of life in America. Crevecoeur’s…