Of On Being Brought From Africa To America By Phillis Wheatley

Phyllis Wheatley shocked the world with poetry as a young black woman who was raised as a slave. Wheatley, unlike most slaves, received an extensive religious education from her owners. The disbelief that surrounded Wheatley’s ability caused her to have to go to court to prove that the writing was her own. This doubt ran through the colonies, showing their opinions on who could be successful at this time . One of Wheatley’s best known poems is “On being brought from Africa to America” and another poem is “To the Right and Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth”. Both poems critique white dominant culture, specifically Christianity. Not only does Wheatley use these poems to critique christianity as an argument in support of slavery, but they also

The first line in the poem “Twas mercy that brought me from my pagan land” (Wheatley line 1), sets up the theme of this poem. Immediately the speaker, who can be assumed to be Wheatley, admits to being grateful for her experience as a slave, at the same time Wheatley sets up a binary for the reader. There is nothing merciful in kidnapping and slavery, but Wheatley plays into the beliefs of the Christian dominant culture of society. Wheatley also proposes another binary, Christianity and paganism, this is an important contrast in the poem because it brings into perspective that Christianity is not the only religion. Wheatley continues and refers to herself as “a benighted soul” (Wheatley line 2), which once again feeds into beliefs of the culture America has made for itself. Christianity establishes a need to be responsible for “saving” those who do not follow or identify as a part of their

Wheatley briefly explains the perspective that some people have towards black people, describing them as having skin that is a “diabolic die” (Wheatley line 6), meaning that they are evil solely based on their skin color.. Wheatley disbands this argument in the earlier half of the poem by proving she is Christian, and has been “saved” from the pagan religion she knew in Africa. Wheatley then directly addresses her audience, Christians and clearly states her message. She strengthens her argument by adding a biblical allusion to Cain and Abel in line seven, referring to Black people as “black as Cain”. This simile is a way for Christians to discriminate against black people, because the story is ambiguous it can be interpreted that God turned Cain into a black man. This interpretation is used to push the argument that Cain was evil, and therefore all black people must be evil. Wheatley uses herself as an example in her poem, as someone who became refined and joined the angelic train. By doing this, Wheatley is proving her closing statement to be true and is asking Christians to expand their kindness and mercy that is taught as a value of their faith to Black