Wheatley was accused of "acting white'" (Gates), according to Gates, and this accusation was along the same vein as "getting straight A's, or even visiting the Smithsonian" (Gates), Gates reports. The irony is palpable and Gates puts it succinctly when he says, "we have moved from a situation where Phillis Wheatley's acts of literacy could be used to demonstrate our people's inherent humanity and their inalienable right to freedom, to a situation where acts of literacy are stigmatized somehow as acts of racial betrayal" (Gates). He is correct. Somehow publishing Wheatley's experiences with and her opinions of slavery create a tension that is strange. In a moment when pride is all that one should feel, the argument is turned on itself. Wheatley "would weep" (Gates,) writes Gates. The one thing a community does not want to do is back itself into a corner and reforge the "manacles of an earlier, admittedly racist era" (Gates). Wheatley wanted grander things for her work and years later, we can see how she would be pleased with recognition for fighting for what is right. Phillis Wheatley is one of the most important poets of her day. She stands alone for many reasons but one of the most compelling reasons her poetry remains is because it is filled with hope. This woman, who was forced on a ship when she was a child, had no reason whatsoever to be happy with where she ended up -- regardless of where that might have been. She did end up in America and she did not allow her experience to ruin her life. Instead,...
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