Color Me Gone Analysis

Color Me Gone: Marginalized Voices Witten on the Edge of History Literature carries the voices of the past, yet some of these echoes go to extremes to find their way out of the darkness of history to be heard. Throughout American history, discrimination and marginalization of race led to stifling the expression of people of color. The American Constitution, claiming freedom of speech, does not take into consideration the generations of people silenced by social and political inequality. From the time of Christopher Columbus’ letters claiming that the Native Americans did not protest his conquest of their land to President Donald J. Trump possibly mistaking the deceased Fredrick Douglass as a modern leader who has “done an amazing job and

Many prominent political figures expressed their opinions on Wheatley’s writing, including Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Vocal about his distrust of Wheatley’s authorship of her own work, Jefferson not only openly attempted to discredit Wheatley, but also argued that even if she was the author, the poetry was not well written. In his work Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson writes of African Americans, “They seem to require less sleep…this may perhaps proceed from a want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it be present…in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior…and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous” (Jefferson). This cruel language, borne of the inherent racism within America, plagued public opinions of Wheatley’s writing. In the same document, Jefferson specifically mentions Wheatley, writing, “Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry…Religion indeed has produced a Phyllis Whately; but it could not produce a poet. The compositions published under her name are below the dignity of criticism” (Jefferson). Even misspelling Wheatley’s name, Jefferson calls to her as an example of the previous sentiments that people of color cannot produce poetry, and, even if they do, it is poor quality. The diction of Jefferson’s critique continues to exemplify his bigoted views and the

As an escaped African American slave during the Antebellum period, Douglass was among the first to tell his story on a wide scale. Similar to Wheatley’s owner, William Lloyd Garrison—a white abolitionist and close friend of Douglass—wrote the preface to Douglass’ narrative. This forward, published nearly a century after the publication of Wheatley’s poems, echoed the necessity of white people to speak before people of color, reassuring the audience of their validity as authors, as speakers, and as human beings. In his preface to Douglass’ novel, Garrison gives a short overview of the narrative providing testament and evidence for the most important parts of the tale. He finishes the summary stating, “The testimony of MR. DOUGLASS, on this point, is sustained by a cloud of witness, whose veracity is unimpeachable” (Douglass, “Narrative” 1179). The witnesses Garrison speaks of parallel the signatures in John Wheatley’s introduction to Wheatley’s poems, speaking to the merit of these colored writers, who stood marginalized and silenced. In order for Douglass to prove that he wrote his own autobiography, he needed Garrison’s voice to say that he did; moreover, Garrison proceeded to combat racism and stereotypes pertaining to