In September 1773, Phillis Wheatley, a young enslaved woman from Boston, boarded a ship home from London, where she had gone to promote her forthcoming book of poems — the first ever published by an American of African descent.
It was not the first time Wheatley had sailed to Boston. Twelve years earlier, she had arrived from Africa as a child captive and was sold to a prominent family, the Wheatleys, who named her after the slave ship.
But on this second voyage, Phillis — now a literary celebrity — picked up a pen and wrote “Ocean,” a 70-line ode full of dreaming, wonder and longing for freedom.
Recent Comments