bringing up Cain, she confronts the popular
European idea that the black race sprang from
Cain, who murdered his brother Abel and was
punished by having a mark put on him as an
outcast. This racial myth and the mention of
slavery in the Bible led Europeans to consider it
no crime to enslave blacks, for they were appa-
rently a marked and evil race.
Line 8
Wheatley perhaps included the reference to Cain
for dramatic effect, to lead into the Christian
doctrine of forgiveness, emphasized in line 8.
No one is excluded from the Savior’s tender
mercy—not the worst people whites can think
of—not Cain, not blacks. Wheatley may also be
using the rhetorical device of bringing up the
opponent’s worst criticism in order to defuse it.
Just as she included a typical racial sneer, she
includes the myth of blacks springing from Cain.
Judging from a full reading of her poems, it does
not seem likely that she herself ever accepted
such a charge against her race. There are poems
in which she idealizes the African climate as
Eden, and she constantly identifies herself in
her poems as the Afric muse. She is not ashamed
of her origins; only of her past ignorance of
Christ. In the last line of this poem, she asserts
that the black race may, like any other branch of
humanity, be saved and rise to a heavenly fate.
Themes
Equality
Wheatley explains her humble origins in ‘‘On
Being Brought from Africa to America’’ and
then promptly turns around to exhort her audi-
ence to accept African equality in the realm of
spiritual matters, and by implication, in intellec-
tual matters (the poem being in the form of neo-
classical couplets). She admits that people are
scornful of her race and that she came from a
pagan background. The black race itself was
thought to stem from the murderer and outcast
Cain, of the Bible. Indeed, at the time, blacks
were thought to be spiritually evil and thus inca-
pable of salvation because of their skin color.
This objection is denied in lines 7 and 8. Skin
color, Wheatley asserts, has nothing to do with
evil or salvation. The last two lines refer to the
equality inherent in Christian doctrine in regard
to salvation, for Christ accepted everyone.
Through the argument that she and others of
her race can be saved, Wheatley slyly establishes
that blacks are equal to whites.TOPICS FOR
FURTHER
STUDY Colonized people living under an imposed cul-
ture can have two identities. Look at the poems
and letters of Phillis Wheatley, and find evi-
dence of her two voices, African and Ameri-
can. Does she feel a conflict about these two
aspects of herself, or has she found an inte-
grated identity? Write an essay and give evi-
dence for your findings from the poems and
letters and the history known about her life.
Read more of Wheatley’s poems and write a
paper comparing her work to some of the
poems of her eighteenth-century model,
Alexander Pope. How does Wheatley use a
similar moral voice, form, and message to
address responsible people in society, thus
representing the proper vocation of a classi-
cal poet to teach public morals? Give a class
presentation on the topic.
Read Wheatley’s poems and letters and
compare her concerns, in an essay, to those
of other African American authors of any
period. How do her concerns differ or con-
verge with other black authors? Do you
think that the judgment in the 1970s by
black educators that Wheatley does not
teach values that are good for African
American students has merit today?
The Quakers were among the first to cham-
pion the abolition of slavery. Give a report
on the history of Quaker involvement in the
antislavery movement. What were their
beliefs about slavery?
Research the history of slavery in America
and why it was an important topic for the
founders in their planning for the country.
What difficulties did they face in considering
the abolition of the institution in the forma-
tion of the new government? Form two
groups and hold a debate on the topic.On Being Brought from Africa to America