Phillis Wheatley: Her Critics and her Contribution

Anne Applegate

doi:10.2307/3041306

Richard Kigel, Heav’nly Tidings from the Afric Muse: The Grace and Genius of Phillis Wheatley. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 2017. Pp. 577. $27.95 (paper).

The Journal of African American History ◽

10.1086/702541 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 104 (2) ◽

pp. 312-315

Author(s):

Olga Dugan

Keyword(s):

Phillis Wheatley

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The Quest for a Global Age of Reason. Part II: Cultural Appropriation and Racism in the Name of Enlightenment

Dialogue and Universalism ◽

10.5840/du202131349 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 133-155

Author(s):

Dag Herbjørnsrud ◽

Keyword(s):

White Supremacy ◽

18Th Century ◽

Founding Fathers ◽

Phillis Wheatley ◽

Age Of Reason ◽

Methodological Nationalism ◽

The Enlightenment ◽

Late 18Th Century ◽

Global Age ◽

Age Of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment is more global and complex than the standard Eurocentric Colonial Canon narrative presents. For example, before the advent of unscientific racism and the systematic negligence of the contributions of Others outside of “White Europe,” Raphael centered Ibn Rushd (Averroes) in his Vatican fresco “Causarum Cognitio” (1511); the astronomer Edmund Halley taught himself Arabic to be more enlightened; The Royal Society of London acknowledged the scientific method developed by Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen). In addition, if we study the Transatlantic texts of the late 18th century, it is not Kant, but instead enlightened thinkers like Anton Wilhelm Amo (born in present-day’s Ghana), Phillis Wheatley (Senegal region), and Toussaint L’Ouverture (Haiti), who mostly live up to the ideals of reason, humanism, universalism, and human rights. One obstacle to developing a more balanced presentation of the Age of the Enlightenment is the influence of colonialism, Eurocentrism, and methodological nationalism. Consequently, this paper, part II of two, will also deal with the European Enlightenment’s unscientific heritage of scholarly racism from the 1750s. It will be demonstrated how Linnaeus, Hume, Kant, and Hegel were among the Founding Fathers of intellectual white supremacy within the Academy. Hence, the Age of Enlightenment is not what we are taught to believe. This paper will demonstrate how the lights from different “Global Enlightenments” can illuminate paths forward to more dialogue and universalism in the 21st century.

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Conjuring the Ghost: A Call and Response to Haints

Hypatia ◽

10.1017/hyp.2021.41 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

drea brown

Keyword(s):

Black Women ◽

Phillis Wheatley ◽

Lucille Clifton ◽

Call And Response ◽

Literary Experiences

Abstract This article discusses haunting as a condition and strategy for Black women in their lived and literary experiences. I use the haint as a key figure for understanding Black women's liminal state as both the ones haunted and the thing haunting and focus on one of the haint's primary manifestations: the hag. Throughout the essay I unpack maligning myths of this specter and center the works of Phillis Wheatley and Lucille Clifton to refigure the hag as a spiritual and ancestral presence.

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