002, SLAVE POETESS WAS MADE TO PRAISE HER OWNERS

I furnish below a link to the biography of the first African Poetess in English Ms. Phillis Wheately. The biography is very interesting.

www.docsouth.unc.edu/neh/brownhal/brownhal.html. Here is a part of a poem by Ms. Phillis Wheately found at the same site.

"...I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate,
Was snatched from AfricA's fancied happy state.
What pangs excruciating must molest,
What sorrows labor in my parent's breast!
Steeled was that soul, and by no misery moved,
That from a father seized his babe beloved."

Ms. Phillis Wheately was an African slave girl brought from Africa in a slave ship. Her surname is borrowed from her owners'.

This poem was of the period around 1776, the American War of Independence. At the site you can find that she addressed a poem to George Washington, the first President of US and his reply.

I do not wish to say that Ms. Phillis Wheately was totally free to express herself fully and frankly. She was expected to praise her owners, the religion of her owners. Nevertheless, something is better than nothing.

I welcome your comments.