The story of a slave’s life is expected to be a tortuous tale—a tale to learn from, a tale made heavy by immense sadness.

The story of Phillis Wheatley’s[1] life as a slave is burdened by cruelty. It is also heavily weighted, ironically, by her short place of honor and of privilege.

Was she treated as a piece of property? Yes. Was she kidnapped from her home and family? Yes. Was she removed 5,000 miles to a strange land? Yes.

Yet, oddly, the tragedy of Phillis Wheatley’s life is more poignant not by virtue of harsh and bloody punishment. It was her good fortune—a twist of fate that led directly to Phillis Wheatley’s prominence as a celebrated poet! She had an audience with the Lord Mayor of London and also with George Washington. Voltaire wrote about her to a friend observing that Phillis Wheatley proves black people can write poetry.

Now, Frederick Douglass learned to read, but he paid the whip’s savage price! And after paying that unthinkable price to educate himself, he lived long and productively, leaving to all humanity the legacy of his leadership by example.

Phillis Wheatley’s benevolent “owners” allowed their daughter to teach her how to read and write. They also encouraged her to pursue her talent for poetry. Not a typical life in slavery, no, and her words inspire us today. Her “master’s” will released her from servitude, but though she was “free,” she died alone at the age of 31— in poverty, from dire illness. Her last surviving infant child soon died thereafter. What cruelest fate did teach her spirit to soar only to waste her body, her mind and the babies that she bore?

The crushing blight of slavery yet stains our history. The words of great teachers, leaders and poets—they teach us today. These words we owe to Phillis Wheatley:

Britannia owns her Independent Reign,
Hibernia, Scotia, and the Realms of Spain;
And Great Germania's ample Coast admires
The generous Spirit that Columbia fires.
Auspicious Heaven shall fill with fav'ring Gales,
Where e'er Columbia spreads her swelling Sails:
To every Realm shall Peace her Charms display,
And Heavenly Freedom spread her gold Ray.[2]

Image: Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), by Scipio Moorhead (in Public Domain)[3]

[1] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley

[2] From “Liberty and Peace,” see: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/phillis-wheatley

[3] See: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phillis_Wheatley_frontispiece.jpg