“THEY FOUND HER IN A SITUATION OF EXTREME MISERY. TWO OF HER CHILDREN WERE DEAD AND THE THIRD WAS SICK UNTO DEATH…WE CANNOT BE SURPRISED THAT, UNDER THESE DISTRESSING CIRCUMSTANCES, HER HEALTH, WHICH HAD BEEN MUCH IMPROVED BY HER VOYGAGE TO ENGL ...
Posted Friday, January 8th 2010 at 1:27PM
(more)
I, YOUNG IN LIFE, BY SEEMING CRUEL FATE, WAS SNATCH’D FROM AFRIC’S FANCY’D HAPPY SEAT. WHAT PANGS EXCRUCIATING MUST MOLEST? WHAT SORROWS LABOUR IN MY PARENT’S BREAST?”
After her triumphant tour of London where she was toasted and cel ...
Posted Tuesday, January 5th 2010 at 10:20PM
(more)
“I HAVE BEEN IN A VERY POOR STATE OF HEALTH ALL THE PAST WINTER AND SPRING AND NOW RESIDE THE COUNTRY FOR THE BENEFIT OF ITS MORE WHOLESOME AIR. WHILE MY OUTWARD MAN LANGUISHES UNDER WEAKNESS AND PAIN, MAY THE INWARD BE REFRESHED AND STRENGTHENED ...
Posted Sunday, January 3rd 2010 at 12:34PM
(more)
BY THE AGE OF TWENTY, WHEN HER BOOK OF POETRY WAS PUBLISHED, PHILLIS WHEATLEY WAS WELL KNOWN TO SOME OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THIS NEW AMERICAN NATION. SHE MET GEORGE WASHINGTON, BENJAMIN FRNAKLIN AND JOHN HANCOCK. NAVAL HERO JOHN PAUL JONES SENT ...
Posted Friday, January 1st 2010 at 6:57PM
(more)
WASHINGTON: MICHAEL JACKSON’S “THRILLER” VIDEO WITH THAT UNFORGETTALBE GRAVEYARD DANCE, WILL REST AMONG THE NATION’S TREASURES IN THE WORLD’S LARGEST ARCHIVE OF FILM, TV AND SOUND RECORDINGS.
The 1983 music video directed by John Landi ...
Posted Thursday, December 31st 2009 at 3:18PM
(more)
“I THANK YOU MOST SINCERELY FOR YOUR POLITE NOTICE OF ME, IN THE ELEGANT LINES YOU ENCLOSED…IF YOU SHOULD EVER COME TO CAMBRIDGE, OR NEAR HEADQUARTERS, I SHALL BE HAPPY TO SEE A PERSON SO FAVORED BY THE MUSES.” FROM GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON
...
Posted Thursday, December 31st 2009 at 11:56AM
(more)
EIGHT YEARS AGO, A TERRORIST BOMBER’S ATTEMPT TO BLOW UP A TRANSATLANTIC AIRLINER WAS THWARTED BY A GROUP OF PASSENGERS, AN INCIDENT THAT REVEALED GAPING HOLES IN AIRLINE SECURITY JUST A FEW MONTHS AFTER THE ATTACKS OF SEPT. 11. BUT IT WAS SIX DAY ...
Posted Wednesday, December 30th 2009 at 6:20PM
(more)
“I TAKE THE FREEDOM TO TRANSMIT TO YOU A SHORT SKETCH OF MY VOYAGE AND RETURN FROM LONDON…I WAS RECEIVED IN ENGLAND WITH SUCH KINDNESS AND SO MANY MARKS OF ESTEEM AND REAL FRIENDSHIP AS ASTONISHES ME ON THE REFLECTION.”
Phillis Wheatley lef ...
Posted Wednesday, December 30th 2009 at 11:04AM
(more)
“THE BOOK HERE PROPOSED FOR PUBLICATION,” WROTE PRINTER ARCHIBALD BELL ON SEPTEMBER 13, 1773, “DISPLAYS PERHAPS ONE OF THE GREATEST INSTANCES OF PURE, UNASSISTED GENIUS THAT THE WORLD EVER PRODUCED. THE AUTHOR IS A NATIVE OF AFRICA…”
...
Posted Tuesday, December 29th 2009 at 11:21PM
(more)
ON MAY 7, 1772, A TEENAGE GIRL SAT DOWN BEFORE A PANEL OF BOSTON’S MOST CELEBRATED CITIZENS. PHILLIS WHEATLEY, AN AFRICAN SLAVE BARELY NINETEEN YEARS OLD, FACED A BOARD OF EIGHTEEN MEN FOR A SERIOUS ROUND OF QUESTIONING.
By 1772, Phillis Whea ...
Posted Tuesday, December 29th 2009 at 10:10AM
(more)
“WHEATLEY SUDDENLY HAD A WIDE READERSHIP ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC,” WROTE HENRY LOUIS GATES. “IT MADE HER THE TONI MORRISON OF HER TIME.”
In 1770, when Phillis was seventeen, the revered Reverend George Whitfield, a popular Englis ...
Posted Monday, December 28th 2009 at 3:05PM
(more)
“SHE SOON GAVE INDICATIONS OF UNCOMMON INTELLIGENCE AND WAS FREQUENTLY SEEN ENDEAVORING TO MAKE LETTERS UPON THE WALL WITH A PIECE OF CHALK OR CHARCOAL.”
Soon after arriving in Boston at the age of seven, Phillis Wheatley was reading and wri ...
Posted Monday, December 28th 2009 at 11:17AM
(more)
A PERSONAL MESSAGE TO ALL READERS ON THE BLACKINAMERICA SITE:
I JUST SIGNED UP THIS WEEK AFTER SOME MONTHS POSTING ON SISTER SITE “BLACKHISTORY.COM”. MANY OF YOU WHO ARE ALSO ON THAT SITE WILL RECOGNIZE THAT MOST OF MY BLOGS AND POSTS FOCUS ON ...
Posted Sunday, December 27th 2009 at 2:14PM
(more)
“WE CANNOT KNOW AT HOW EARLY A PERIOD SHE WAS BEGUILED FROM THE HUT OF HER MOTHER. SHE DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE PRESERVED ANY REMEMBRANCE OF THE PLACE OF HER NATIVITY OR OF HER PARENTS EXCEPTING THE SIMPLE CIRCUMSTANCE THAT HER MOTHER POURED OUT WATE ...
Posted Sunday, December 27th 2009 at 2:09PM
(more)
THE RECENT ELECTION IN NEW YORK CITY PRODUCED A SEISMIC POLITICAL SHIFT THAT SO FAR HAS GONE LARGELY UNNOTCED: BLACK, HISPANIC AND ASIAN RESIDENTS MADE UP A MAJORITY OF VOTERS IN A CITYWIDE RACE FOR THE FIRST TIME.
By SAM ROBERTS
Much of the f ...
Posted Saturday, December 26th 2009 at 5:16PM
(more)
