Aug 1, 2026 · 52 min · 11 segments
Phillis Wheatley Peters was transported to America as an enslaved 7-year-old. She quickly became a literary prodigy and an international celebrity – the unofficial first poet laureate of a new nation…
Vincent CarrettaGuest
Isabelle RougholHost
And I think something that gets probably a bit glossed over in the 250th commemorations that we're going through at the moment is that this era of the Revolutionary War is also the peak of the transatlantic slave trade.
And in those years or shortly before those years, we have a young girl who is transported to America.
Obviously, spoiler alert, she's going to turn out to be Phyllis Wheatley-Peters.
Well, actually, surprisingly, we know much more about how she got to Boston than we do about any other person of African descent in the 18th century.
And that's really quite extraordinary because we have the manuscript correspondence between the owner of the slave ship that brought her from Africa to America.
And the letters that he wrote to the captain of the slave ship directing him, in this case, for the voyage that brought Phyllis to Boston, The owner tells the captain, do not do what you did on the last voyage.
So this is actually significant, I think, when we're talking about where Phyllis probably came from in Africa.
evangelical Christian who had transatlantic connections, which is extremely important in enabling Phyllis to be published.
And she was purchased by the Wheatleys almost to the day about 10 years after the Wheatleys had lost one of their children.
a daughter who died, and remarkably on the tombstone of the daughter who died, whereas we're used to seeing birth date, maybe month, day, year, then death date.
And I think something that gets probably a bit glossed over in the 250th commemorations that we're going through at the moment is that this era of the Revolutionary War is also the peak of the transatlantic slave trade.
And in those years or shortly before those years, we have a young girl who is transported to America.
Obviously, spoiler alert, she's going to turn out to be Phyllis Wheatley-Peters.
Well, actually, surprisingly, we know much more about how she got to Boston than we do about any other person of African descent in the 18th century.
And that's really quite extraordinary because we have the manuscript correspondence between the owner of the slave ship that brought her from Africa to America.
And the letters that he wrote to the captain of the slave ship directing him, in this case, for the voyage that brought Phyllis to Boston, The owner tells the captain, do not do what you did on the last voyage.
So this is actually significant, I think, when we're talking about where Phyllis probably came from in Africa.
evangelical Christian who had transatlantic connections, which is extremely important in enabling Phyllis to be published.
And she was purchased by the Wheatleys almost to the day about 10 years after the Wheatleys had lost one of their children.
a daughter who died, and remarkably on the tombstone of the daughter who died, whereas we're used to seeing birth date, maybe month, day, year, then death date.
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