During the times Wheatley lived, slavery was still legal, with some of the Founding Fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson being slave owners themselves. “Men could not vote unless they owned property; women could not vote at all.“ (Baym 2008: 158) With this being the situation for the white population, the situation for being a black women in America could not be worse. Nevertheless, Phillis Wheatley was lucky enough to be purchased by John Wheatley, a philanthropists and wealthy tailor. John Wheatley had bought Phillis as a compaignon for his wife Susannah. In these surroundings, Phillis Wheatley has been taught to read and write, a qualification most white women were not given.
The usual life for a black woman in these times would have been very different from Wheatley's. The colonization of America from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century came along with mass enslavement, leaving the United States of two minds, namely of an economy in the need of workers on the one hand and politics based on freedom and equality on the other. But there was enough room for interpretation within Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal“ referring mainly to middle class men, giving enough space to keep slavery a legal business. Plantation economy, starting in the 17th century, exploded from that time on. It left the economy with the need of workers, linking the mostly southern economy with the use of slaves as workers for the next two centuries. In 1776, there were more than 460.000 slaves working in the United States, and around a hundred years later, there were even more than four million slaves to be found, mostly in the Southern States. Considering this situation, it is of importance to keep in mind that Phillis Wheatley was not the typical black women living in the Revolutionary era of the United States of America.
2.2. On Being Brought from Africa to America
Even though Phillis Wheatley's poem is just eight lines in length, it contains a lot of statements towards the situation of the colored population, especially in terms of slavery, and, even more important, expresses her own attitude, thus mostly in a hidden way.
Starting the poem by describing slavery rather positive on the surface, Wheatley chose a more or less save topic for her slave poem. Underlining this are both terms “on being brought“ in the title and “it was mercy“ in the first line. At first appearance, the down-playing of her kidnapping and the cruel journey to America make her enslavement appear positively, but in fact, it contains a hidden criticisim of the whites. In crediting god through the use of “mercy“ before the actual human action performed by the whites, she shows them that there still is a more powerful force. From a more radical view, one might even say that Wheatley denies the power of the whites. In using Christianity as a higher power, it was still a save subject for her to slightly criticize the whites that there is something more powerful than them. In addition to that, one can find an euphemism in the title; Wheatley was not asked to go to America, she was captured. With an Euphemism “referring to something by means of a milder, more positive terms“ (Nüning 2004: 74), Wheatley allows the reader to interpret the title rather sarcastic, including a criticism towards the whites.
Another clever way of addressing and somehow manipulating the readers' view of the poem is found in line five. With the derogatory “some“, she builds up a distance between the reader of the poem and the ones who “view our sable race with scornful eye“. This pushes the reader into a position of viewing slavery from a critical point of view. Describing her race as “sable“ whose “color is a diabolic die“, Wheatley sets up a contrast between “sable“ being positively connotated with something valuable and desirable, and “diabolic die“ as rather negative. There also is room for interpretation in terms of the concept of “die“, which could also be related to John Woolman, the leader of the Quakers, who boycotted dyes in order to protest slavery.
Another hidden critique by Wheatley is achieved with the use of an imperative. By definition, an imperative is “giving an authoritative command“, which gives Phillis Wheatley the role of a master rather than the servant she was. Placing the word “Christian“ ambiguously, Wheatley addressing either the last sentence to all Christians or including them in those who “may be refin'd and join th'angelic train“. This ambiguity shows that Wheatley sees the colored population on the same level as the white one, the angelic train including both blacks and whites. Therefore, this can be seen as a criticism towards the whites, seeing colored people as inferior to them.
To underline this, I will have a short look at quotations concerning Wheatley stated by whites. Seen in the context of the time she lived in, Phillis Wheatley and her poetry divided the minds. An anonymous person wrote in a London Review of Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects in 1774: “The poems written by this young negro bear no endemial marks of solar fire or spirit. They are merely imitative; and, indeed, most of these people have a turn for imitation, though they have little or none for invention.“ (Robinson 1982: 30)
In contrast to this, Voltaire stated during the years 1882-85: “Genius, which is very rare, everywhere, can be found in all parts of the earth. Fontenelle was wrong to say that there would never be poets among Negroes; there is presently a Negro woman who writes very good English verse.“ (Robinson 1982: 32)
Summing up, Phillis Wheatly's poem On Being Brought from Africa to America can be interpreted as a critique of the treatment of the enslaved colored population of America. Wheatley does so in a rather hidden way, because a colored woman was not in the position of expressing her opinion in public. With Wheatley being a slave herself while writing the poem, she was not able to express her thoughts openly.
2.3. The Times of Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes was a colored writer during Modernism, a period embedded in the two World Wars. Therefore, Modernism started with the beginning of World War I in 1914 and ended with the end of World War II in 1945. Langston Hughes was born on February the first, 1902, and died on May Twenty-second, 1967.
In terms of social and political movements, it is of utter importance for African Americans to mention the year 1915 and the so-called Great Migration, which can be seen as a direct result of World War I. Because of the opportunity of factory work, African Americans “began to migrate out of the segregated South“ (Norton 1881) to the North, from rural areas to big cities where the war industry gave new work to people. Not only does this prove that colored people were not pleased with racial segregation they had to face in the South as it was often stated, it also did a lot of damage to the economy of the Southern States, leaving them with too little people to work. But the life for colored people in the North wasn't as different from the South as one might imagine; colored people had to face “racism, segregation, and racial violence in the North“ (Norton, 1884), too.
At the same time, “a black American presence soon became powerfully visible in American cultural life“ (Norton, 1884). Harlem, New York City, was inhabited almost completely by African Americans, over 150,000 living there by the mid-1920's. Furthermore, it was a place where mostly black people settled and started their own Renaissance in literature, music, and arts. The founding of two journals, The Crisis in 1910 and Opportunity in 1923, was of major importance, not least in influencing other ethnicities, too. Therefore, this process is better known as the Harlem Renaissance.
But still, African Americans were not treated the same as whites. Especially before the law, black people had to face unfair trials, and segregation was still present in Modernism America. This has to be taken into consideration when analyzing and interpreting Langston Hughes poem, I, Too.
2.4. I, Too
Langston Hughes, a representative of the so-called Black movement, wrote most of his literature about the social acceptance of blacks in white culture. I, Too, written in 1924, is a perfect example for this and can be seen as a call for equality.
The first line, also a reference to Walt Whitman's Song on Myself as well as the poems form, written in free verse, underlines that Hughes not only sees himself but also America's colored population equal to the whites. They, too, sing America and therefore have a voice of their own. Of even more important is their ability to speak out loudly. They are proud of America and very self-confident because they see America's colored population as representatives of America just as the whites.
This call for equality is also underlined by the use of the word “brother“ in the second line. Hughes sees the American society as one big family, including African Americans. Furthermore, the use of the word “brother“ connotates an affinity towards white people. Though Hughes argues for a social acceptance and equality, he still refers to the time of slavery and shows how African American's still have to face inequality 300 years after being brought to America as slaves. African Americans are “send“, indicating that they are not able to make decisions on their own. Rather than seeing this treatment as a disadvantage, it is viewed as an empowerment for the colored population of America. The inequality of having to eat in the kitchen will make him strong, a synonym for America's colored population benefiting from the unequal treatmeant they have to face from the whites. “Nobody“ will be able to command them in the future, they will be socially accepted. Hughes argues with a strong self-reliance that there will be a countermovement, colored people having their own lives, not depending on the whites not far away in the future. The use of “tomorrow“ indicates that this state of society will be reality rather soon.
But Hughes takes it even a step further in arguing against the stereotype of being black as being equal to something negative. The skin color is no longer to be discriminated, and even though there might be a difference in color, nothing positive or negative is to be connotated with it.
Overall, Hughes expresses his point of view openly. Especially during the times of inequality and racism he lived in, it is a remarkable piece of art dealing with the difficulties colored people had to deal with during the period of Modernism.
3. Conclusion
Both poems, written by colored people of America during an early and a rather late period, include statements towards the political situation of the colored population in America. Given the conditions under which African Americans had and still have to live in the United States, it is of little surprise that they were mostly of a critical nature.
Though both periods are divided by more than 200 years, the political and social situation of America's colored population hasn't changed significantly. They still have to face racism and segregation, equality for blacks and whites is, not even until today, achieved.
It is of significance that though both authors pleaded for equality, though it is done in a different way. While Phillis Wheatley does so in a rather hidden way, Langston Hughes addresses the American's more openly, showing a somehow emancipated way of writing for African Americans. A main difference between Wheatley's and Hughes's poetry is that Hughes expresses his opinion freely, underlining that Americas colored population has gained the ability to speak out loudly. The appearance of African Americans during Modernism is more self-confident which finds its way into the way Blacks express themselves through poetry, music, and paintings in the Harlem Rennaissance.
Furthermore, the point of view has changed. While Phillis Wheatley saw the unequal treatment of the blacks rather negative, Hughes argues that America's colored population will gain strength through it, even benefiting from being seen as something inferior.
What might be the most remarkable observation is that even through all unequal treatments towards America's colored population by the whites, this rather helped them emancipating and therefore being a part of the American culture.
