10%OFF
Stock image for illustration purposes only - book cover, edition or condition may vary.
Heav'nly Tidings From the Afric Muse: The Grace and Genius of Phillis Wheatley Poet Laureate of the American Revolution
Richard Kigel
FREE Delivery in Ireland
Description for Heav'nly Tidings From the Afric Muse: The Grace and Genius of Phillis Wheatley Poet Laureate of the American Revolution
Paperback. BIC Classification: 1KBB; 3JF; BGL; HBJK; HBLL; JFSJ1; JFSL3. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 226 x 152 x 30. Weight in Grams: 771.
Foreword by Nikki Giovanni She survived the horrific Middle Passage as a child and was purchased as a slave in 1761. By the time she turned twenty Phillis Wheatley became the most famous person of African descent in the world. In a culture dominated by white supremacy, she forced those around her to acknowledge her humanity and confront the inequity of her status as a slave. Heav'nly Tidings From the Afric Muse shows how Phillis Wheatley wrote her way to freedom. Developing previously unexplored material and adding new information with fresh perspectives, ... Read moreHeav'nly Tidings From the Afric Muse offers the opportunity to reevaluate the unique and significant role Phillis Wheatley played in the tumultuous birth of our nation. Insights by three centuries of Wheatley scholars and authentic statements by her contemporaries present a vivid picture of Phillis Wheatley in her time. Her own words, taken from her writings, resurrect the spirit of the classic poet who managed to launch two literary traditions at once, African-American literature and women's literature. Now Phillis Wheatley can take her place among our Founding Fathers and Mothers as the true Poet Laureate of the American Revolution. In this stunning and comprehensive new biography of Phillis Wheatley - published in time for Black History Month - author Richard Kigel offers new insights into the poet's incredible life and work, and the visions and words she had for her new country that still echo to this day. Kigel, a former Brooklyn public school teacher, realized during his teaching career that his students (as well as many Americans) didn't know who Wheatley was. After years of research, he has written her story in fast-moving prose, including her poems throughout the book, as well as extensive citations from primary sources of the time. Among the Author's findings and perspectives: - Phillis Wheatley was the only slave among untold millions who suffered the horrors of the Middle Passage whose arrival was documented--we know the name of the slave ship that brought her and the date and place of arrival in America. - The book argues that the famous Wheatley Court examination by 18 Boston men never happened. There is no evidence to support the mythical scenario that Phillis was quizzed by a panel of experts to test if she really wrote her works. - Phillis Wheatley's London stay changed her life. The book presents a detailed description of her London travels taken from her letters that reveals how she earned her freedom. - Evidence that the first shipment of Phillis Wheatley's books arrived from London on one of the Boston Tea Party ships. This is the first time evidence demonstrating that Phillis Wheatley's shipment of books arrived on the Dartmouth along with 114 chests of East India tea has been documented. Her books were most likely on board the fateful night of the Boston Tea Party. - New evidence that the extraordinary March 1776 encounter between Phillis Wheatley and General Washington actually took place. - Details that Phillis Wheatley gave us our first popular symbol of America. The heavenly figure of Lady Columbia as a goddess in a flowing robe became a popular symbol of the American spirit which lasted until the mid-20th century. That a slave girl sold in chains on the auction block would grow to imagine the American spirit as the goddess in robes is a powerful reminder of Wheatley's place in American history. - The book makes the case that Phillis Wheatley should be given serious consideration as Poet Laureate of the American Revolution. Her patriotic poems celebrate the American fight for freedom and helped create enduring images of the American imagination that still exist today. - The book asserts that Phillis Wheatley was the first public figure to embrace her identity as an African-American. She declared her African heritage proudly as your vent'rous Afric, an Ethiop, and the Afric muse. Her decision to return to Boston from London, where she was legally free, provided clear affirmation that Phillis Wheatley saw her future as an African-American poet. The result is an engrossing biography for both adult and young adult readers - a book that places Phillis Wheatley in her rightful place among our Founding Fathers and Mothers, and as an iconic figure in African-American history as important as Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King. Show Less
Product Details
Place of Publication
Saint Paul, United States
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
About Richard Kigel
When it comes to reading, writing and books, Richard Kigel brings the practical skills of an experienced literacy professional to his writing. A veteran of forty years teaching in New York City schools, he was inspired by Bill Cosby's 1968 TV special Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed, and Alex Haley's 1976 Roots to find ways to teach ... Read morehis students about the courage, nobility, ingenuity and perseverance of African-American men and women in their heroic struggle for racial equality. He came to realize that Black History is essential to any understanding of our nation, that Black History is American History. Show Less
Reviews for Heav'nly Tidings From the Afric Muse: The Grace and Genius of Phillis Wheatley Poet Laureate of the American Revolution
This is an eye-opening biography of Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), who arrived in the US at the age of around seven in 1761 as a slave on a ship where 25 of the 96 passengers died en route. She began writing poetry in her teens, and published her first book at the age of 20. She is called the poet laureate ... Read moreof the American Revolution and was a literary sensation in her day, not only as a black American, but also as a woman. Significantly, a large group of distinguished men had to provide an attestation that she was indeed in the author of these sublime works, especially as racism was rife even among thinkers like Hume and Kant. A judgement by Lord Mansfield in England changed the status of slaves and rippled out into the colonies. Slavery was much less widespread in Boston than in the South. Wheatley was also a pioneer in the emancipation movement and wrote eloquently about freedom. In 2003, statues were unveiled in Boston not only for Phillis but also Abigail Adams and Lucy Stone. As well as learning in detail about the life of this remarkable woman, the reader gains a great deal of background information on this revolutionary epoch.
Paradigm Explorer With a foreword in verse by Nikki Giovanni, the book deftly blends poetry, biography, and criticism to argue for Wheatley's pre-eminence in the American literary pantheon. ... A comprehensive and moving portrait of a resurrected American icon.
Kirkus Reviews She had to learn another language, not just to speak, but to express her heart.... I think this book should be read by every poet
to remind us how precious our freedom really is.
Nikki Giovanni, Poet, Distinguished University Professor, Virginia Tech, best-selling author, and winner of 7 NAACP Image Awards (12/12/2016) Richard Kigel brings the passion of a master teacher to his biography of Phillis Wheatley, survivor of the Middle Passage and poet extraordinaire of the eighteenth-century Atlantic. Wheatley is a proper heroine for our history-hungry times.
Marcus Rediker, author of The Slave Ship and The Amistad Rebellion (12/12/2016) Phillis Wheatley is the mother of the African American literary tradition and 'the sable muse' of the American Revolution. With this masterful biography, she will be restored to her rightful place as a major figure in the intellectual history of the fledgling American Republic. Every student and scholar of American literature should read this well-written and carefully researched biography.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University (11/11/2016) Richard Kigel's biography, Heav'nly Tidings From the Afric Muse: The Grace and Genius of Phillis Wheatley, is not only timely but also written out of a robust respect for this poet whose eloquence subverted the stereotype of the African. This book captures a young woman in bondage who possessed the courage and audacity to rise within that peculiar institution to speak as a seer, as an early American poet who dared to praise the imagination as the capstone of human experience. Kigel gives us a servant of language, a truth-teller who survived with an amazing grace, and whose dynamic work continues to challenge us across centuries.
Yusef Komunyakaa, Pulitzer Prize winner (10/05/2016) Show Less
