In 1689, the Florida community of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose was the first place to grant asylum to Africans transported to the United States. King Charles II of Spain decreed as long as they converted to Catholicism, served four years in the militia, and were baptized with a Christian name, they would be recognized as free. With a population of just 100, Fort Mose was recognized as this even into the 1700s.
This wisp of freedom led to the first African-American work of poetry from Lucy Terry Prince. "Bars Fight" was composed in 1746, and preserved orally (like the griots of Africa) until publication in 1855's "History of Western Massachusetts" by Josiah Gilbert Holland. Just seven years later, Phillis Wheatly arrived in the United States from the Gambia River region. Given the first name of the ship that brought her to these shores and the last name of the family who purchased her (both common practices for the time,) The Wheatlys were recovering from losing a child. Within two to four years, Phillis learned to read and write, displaying a gift for language. Her preternatural ability to write poetry was aided by reading Alexander Pope, Homer, John Milton, and Virgil. Raised on the classics, Wheatly even learned Greek and Latin.
Boston's growing religious community provided inspiration for young Phillis who chose first to lionize the Methodist minister James Whitefield, In 1767, Wheatley composed "An Elegiac Poem, On The Death of the Celebrated George Whitefield." Written in the same heroic couplet used by Pope and Homer, Wheatly's admiration echoes through her skillful composition.
We hear no more the music of thy tongue
Thy wonted auditories cease to throng
Wheatly's eulogy for Whitefield is delivered with the same solemn but earnest tone as a soldier returning home from the wars. Her imagery not only maintains that the world must pause to respect and weather this loss but most importantly that his words will live on:
While the tomb safe retains its sacred trust
Till life divine re-animates his dust
Once her work was published in 1770, "An Elegiac Poem" opened doors for Wheatly. In 1773, Phillis accompanied the Wheatly's son Nathaniel to London. There she met with the Lord Mayor of London and almost King George III. The Countess of Huntingdon, Selina Hutchings took an interest in Wheatly's verse and had it published in 1773 as "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral." The London Magazine called her book "a work of genius," and it stayed in print until 1816. The success of "Poems" led to her emancipation in from the Wheatly when she returned to America in 1774.
Having lost Susanna Wheatly in 1774, Phillis Wheatly turned her focus to the burgeoning American Revolution. Having once supported the Crown (she wrote in praise of King George III's enactment of the Stamp Act,) Wheatly changed her views and saw the formation of the United States as a beacon of freedom. In 1776, she composed a work in praise of George Washington and his battle with the British, "His Excellency General Washington."
Celestial choir! enthron'd in realms of light,
Columbia's scenes of glorious toils I write.
While freedom's cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
Wheatly opens in a classical poetic means, summoning the muses. (Her admirer John Paul Jones, the great naval commander of the Revolutionary War, will actually ask that his writings are delivered to Phillis.) Wheatly asks the "celestial choir" on high to shine brightly ("refulgent") upon "Columbia.") Her word choice here is everything. Wheatly says nothing about war, but the "glorious toils" and "freedom's cause" need the light of the Muses to shine down upon this land. Like that still-quoted speech from John Winthrop delivered in 1630 (but only brought to light in 1838,) Wheatly already sees the nation as a "shining city on a hill."
Like her poem about George Whitefield, Wheatly drives the point that this mission is somehow "divine." However, the lasting image of "Columbia" as a "goddess" with "hair bound "olive and laurel" implies that this will be a nation of peace and victory. Further in the poem she invokes the image of "Eolus," the Greek god of wind as if our forces as summoning nature for this valiant fight.
As she returns to the image of "Columbia" toward the end, the reality of war begins to show its face. Wheatly cites our battles with the French and even hails that the young country "has God on its side"- in her words "The land of freedom's heaven-defended race!" However, the stakes are rising as well as the body count, leaving the "scales" to determine the victor.
On February 28th, 1776, General George Washington wrote Wheatly. "I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me, in the elegant Lines you enclosed; and however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyrick, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your great poetical Talents." Wheatly was now as Voltaire described her "the most famous African on Earth."
Wheatly married a grocer in 1778. They had three children, all of which died. Sadly Phillis Wheatly could never get her second book of poetry published and was forced to work as a scullery maid. Giving birth to another child, Phillis Wheatly died December 5th, 1784 at age 31.
If you travel north to Greenville you will find that Wheatly's name graces their community center. In 1892, the first Phillis Wheatly Circle was formed there. Their admiration of Wheatly led to using this building to honor her legacy for the last 100 years.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
New This Week
SPEED ROUND
MORGAN WALLEN - One Thing At A Time [2CD](Big Loud)
36 songs from the "bad boy of Country Music." "One Thing at a Time" has already generated two #1 Country singles ("You Proof" is actually his biggest crossover to Pop hit yet.) The question is, what has changed since "Dangerous?" First, Wallen has again drafted an army of co-writers and kept the same production crew (Joey Moi, the secret weapon - most notably.) While this all seems as assembly-line as "Dangerous," Wallen borrows from both The Allman Brothers and Cash Money's Rich Gang on "One Thing At A Time" - so Wallen is perhaps broadening his horizons into Southern Rock and Hip-Hop?
DAISY JONES AND THE SIX - Aurora [LP/CD](Atlantic)
The Taylor Jenkins Reid novel drops as a Reese Witherspoon-produced miniseries on Friday with its own soundtrack of original songs (written to match its Seventies backdrop.) Led by its talented musical cast, producer/writer Blake Mills wrote most of it to match the story. Still with so many voices to tell the tale, Mills also collaborated with Jackson Browne, Madision Cunningham, and Phoebe Bridgers.
WILLIE NELSON - I Don't Know a Thing About Love [CD](Legacy)
Willie Nelson (and producer Buddy Cannon) return with a tribute to Nelson's idol Harlan Howard. Howard was one of the longest-running and most beloved songwriters in Country Music. Growing up listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio, Howard was writing songs at 12. His ability to turn a phrase into a song is perhaps his ongoing gift to Nashville today. Nelson and Cannon chose his standards, "Busted," "Tiger By The Tail" and the immortal "Streets of Baltimore." Nelson will turn 90 on April 29th. This marks his 73rd studio album.
REISSUE OF THE WEEK
DE LA SOUL - 3 Feet High and Rising [LP/CD/CS](Chrysalis)
Just ten years after Rap's breakthrough with Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" (weirdly a worldwide Top 5 single, but unable to break US radio's programming grip long enough to move past #36 on January 12, 1980,) Rap became Hip-Hop and grew in multiple directions at once. From Long Island came Posdnous, Maseo, and the late Trugoy The Dove. Hip-Hop had never seen anything like this. Like the other Native Tongues artists, their positivity and Afrocentric vibe were ever-present. However, the strings of samples they used and their witty, silly, clever rhymes that seemed to be written in their own language set them far apart.
And so, the D.A.I.S.Y ("da inner sound y'all") Age began with their new aesthetic and everyone else followed in their wake. A simple head-nodding beat. A spiraling sample. Two voices tossing it back and forth like a tennis ball. "Plug one. Plug two. Plug one. Plug two." 24 blistering cuts in 67 minutes, even the skits, that they were the first to use, still work well (unlike so many other Hip-Hop albums.) De La Soul was playful with their rhymes. "The Magic Number" retains the playground feel. Yet, De La Soul could be topical. "Jenifer Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)" was funny but still the realistic product of a relationship. If that was not enough, fellow Native Tongues Q-Tip and Jungle Brothers come on board for what could be Hip-Hop's first safe-sex anthem and/or statement regarding body positivity. "Potholes In My Lawn" dared to be socially aware, but never overtly let you know it. Finally, the Parliament-sampled "Me, Myself & I" went more than knee-deep into the "junk-shop" anything-goes experience of Hip-Hop production. When it broke through on MTV and even college radio, De La Soul had officially arrived. (Ten years after Sugarhill Gang, "Me, Myself, and I" hit #34 on the Top 40 on July 22, 1989 - despite booming out of nearly every passing car. Even the artwork by The Grey Organisation was revolutionary.
Then, the critical acclaim took an unknown toll. In the interlude "Transmitting Live From Mars" (which in the future De La Soul would be the first music played there,) their interpolation of The Turtles' "You Showed Me" caused problems. One strand of the song turned into a tape loop and became a 1.7 million dollar lawsuit for copyright infringement. After this event, all samples would have to survive strenuous clearance - even forcing product recalls and delays down the road. For De La Soul, it meant that the licensee would have to pay for all the samples yet again on any use either physical or streaming. So since its release in 1989, its last official pressing was in 2013 and it has never been available for streaming. Furthermore, when the rights reverted back to Tommy Boy in 2017, they offered the group a paltry 10% of the revenue. De La Soul balked. Since Tommy Boy was purchased by Reservoir Media in 2021, the rights to "3 Feet High" and their catalog have been rightfully returned to the group. "3 Feet High" is the first of six De La Soul albums returning to shelves and services this year.
