Phillis Wheatley On Trial (CRR)

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an African American literary critic, wrote an article about Wheatley being put on trial. Phillis Wheatley is a slave girl who belong to John and Susanna Wheatley. Her owners taught her how to read and write. Being able to read and write was the onset to writing poetry. Her poems became popular in the Unites States and in Great Britain. However; there were people who didn't appreciate Wheatley's work such as the 18th century philosophers and the intellectual white men. Their disapproval towards Wheatley's poem lead to the trail that caused controversy between the intellectual white men who do not believe that Wheatley wrote her own poems and Wheatley who wants to prove them wrong. Before October 8, 1772, Phillis Wheatley, a teen who confronted eighteen of the most influential thinkers and politicians of the Massachusetts Colony wanted to prove how well Negros can write poetry.


She was very audacious for standing up against eighteen white men to prove her point. This trail was a big challenge, but it also was a turning point in the African American community. Even though she had people who went against her, she also provided evidence and passed the exam that the intellectual men gave to her. The outcome of the trail was that Wheatley is considered to be a qualified writer and she was notice as the person who wrote all of her poems. Moreover; the result of the trial open the doors for African American because Wheatley proved that blacks can write poetry. Wheatley's life took a new route in which she gained freedom and made friendship with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. However; her new life has caused hardship because she married a man name John Peters who abandoned her soon after she gave birth to their third child and sold the only copy of the second manuscript that she wrote.


Her accomplishments as a poet and risk taker had taken her to world full of hardship and happiness. It was very upsetting to find out that Wheatley death was full of sadness and I was very mad of the fact that she married an ungrateful man. The trail outcome caught me by surprise because I thought she was going to lose. However; she proved her point during the trail and is admired for the drastic change she created in proving to the intellectual white men that blacks can write and read.