Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley was America's first black poet. She was born in Senegal, Africa in 1753 and she was sold into slavery at the age of seven to John and Susannah Wheatley of Boston. Phillis was soon accepted as a member of the family, and was raised with the Wheatley's other two children. Phillis soon displayed her remarkable talents by learning to read and write English. At the age of twelve she was reading the Greek and Latin classics, and passages from the Bible. At thirteen she wrote her first poem. Phillis became a Boston sensation after she wrote a poem on the death of the evangelical preacher George Whitefield in 1770. Three years later thirty-nine of her poems were published in London as "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral." It was the first book to be published by a black American. Most of Phillis Wheatley's poems reflect her religious and classical New England upbringing. Writing in heroic couplets, many of her poems consist of elegies while others stress the theme of Christian salvation. Phillis Wheatley died in 1784.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born in 1820 in Dorchester co., Md. Her parents were from the Ashanti tribe of West Africa, and they worked as slaves on the Brodas plantation. In 1844, Harriet married a free black man named John Tubman. In 1849 Harriet's fears were realized when the owner of the Brodas plantation died and many of the slaves were scheduled to be sold. After hearing of her fate Harriet planned to escape that very night. Harriet made a 90-mile trip to the Mason-Dixon Line with the help of contacts along the Underground Railroad. Harriet's trip was successful, and she settled in Philadelphia. She worked as a dishwasher and made plans to rescue her family. The ...

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...a militant antislavery newspaper that promoted the abolitionist cause. This newspaper had a small circulation, but it was influential and at times aroused violent public reaction. In speaking engagements and through the Liberator and other publications, Garrison advocated the immediate emancipation of all slaves. This was an unpopular view during the 1830s, even with northerners who were against slavery. Though circulation of the Liberator was relatively limited, there were less than 400 subscriptions during the paper's second year and Garrison soon gained a reputation for being the most radical of abolitionists. His approach to emancipation stressed nonviolence and passive resistance. After the end of the Civil War in 1865, Garrison published his last issue of the Liberator. After thirty five years and 1,820 issues, Garrison did not fail to publish a single issue.