Assignment: Two Slave Girls: Phillis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth

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Here we focus on two girls raised in slavery, Phyllis Wheatley and the girl who later called herself Sojourner Truth.

A. Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa, abducted around the age of 7 and sold to a family in Boston. She might have been the age of Jane and Ben Franklin's grandchildren. Ben and Jane almost certainly knew about Phyllis because she became a famous poet in the colonies and in mother England


https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/webtexts/Wheatley/philbio.htm

Here is Wheatley's famous poem "On Being Brought From Africa to America" : Poems

B. Sojourner Truth

Truth, who was illiterate and born into slavery in upstate New York, shrewdly copyrighted her photos and marketed them for about 40 cents each including postage. In “Enduring Truths: Sojourner’s Shadows and Substance” (University of Chicago Press), the art historian Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, analyzes Truth’s sittings for a half-dozen photographers.

Sojourner Truth grew up in Ulster Country (up the Hudson near SUNY New Paltz) in New York State after the American Revolution ("remember all men are created equal?" but slavery remained legal in NY State until 1827) Here is an account of her childhood and coming of age on the way to becoming an abolitionist and fighter for women's rights. Read in Daniel Wolff, How Lincoln Learned to Read the chapter titled "Belle" pp. 69-91 or if your book has not arrived click here and print out the scan:

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/...

https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/sojtruth-woman...


The assignment

Please answer the following questions on Phyllis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth. I expect well developed responses which show your understanding of the reading. Don't forget spell check. You should be able to spell better than Jane (Franklin) Mecom!

  1. Today we often use the term “gifted and talented” to describe all sorts of children including those whose chief distinction is mostly that they are not homicidal. But Phyllis was the “real deal”-- G&T! What evidence can you give for her talent? A full nicely written paragraph to a skeptical friend who does not believe that slave children can be gifted and talented.
  2. The irony of Wheatley’s life was that her painful struggles really began AFTER she was freed. Explain.
  3. The article on Wheatley states that “some critics have been disturbed that her poetry is not more attuned to modern political and racial awareness, that she seems to have adopted a ‘white voice’ and abandoned her own race.” Can you answer those critics by referring to her poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America?” How does this poem show racial awareness and real feeling? Quote and explain!!
  4. Well, it could have been worse for Belle. Explain based on your reading the basic differences between southern plantation slavery and Northern/Dutch English slavery. You can do this as a list of differences without a fancy paragraph.
  5. According to the Dutch reformed church, “there was no difference between bond and free…all are one in Christ.” How then did the whites keep black slaves out?? What did this have to do with Belle? Answer both questions.
  6. Belle’s body was scarred by beatings and burnings. And yet she was able to temper her hatred against her oppressors. How? Why? Consider her attitude toward religion.
  7. Explain the Pinkster—and the arguments for and against.
  8. How did Frederick Douglass explain Sojourner Truth’s tremendous appeal as an abolitionist? What set her apart from other speakers, teachers, and preachers? Remember, she could NOT read or write.

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Assignment: Two Slave Girls: Phillis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth
1.

Phyllis was a perfect example that slavery girls could be “gifted and talented.” She depicted

quite excellent skills in her understanding capabilities. After being brought from Africa, it is
said that Phyllis learned to write and speak English fluently for only 16 months! At this time she
was only seven years of age, and she had such skills. Again, Phyllis wrote 100 poems in her
lifetime and managed to write a letter to Reverend Occum about black oppression.
2.

It is stated that after being freed, she got married to Peters who was not able to settle in any

vocation. For this reason, they are s...


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