The Fire This Time

As a child in her functionally segregated school, Jeffers learned about important black figures from history. Her teachers and parents praised Phillis Wheatley in particular: a slave whose poetry was published during her lifetime.

In childhood, Jeffers felt sad for Wheatley’s lack of a husband, but during college she learned that Wheatley was married to John Peters. His description utilized prejudicial characterizations of black men, such as his leaving his wife and child without money or support. Reading about Peters reminded Jeffers of local men surrounding Talladega College in Alabama who catcalled the women who studied there and how her mother spoke of such men.

A self-described “collateral descendant” (65) of Phillis Wheatley named Margaretta Matilda Odell wrote the definitive book on Wheatley’s personal details. Called Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, A Native African and a Slave, it was published in 1834. Odell’s book describes Phillis Wheatley’s arrival in Boston at seven years old and how her mistress Susannah Wheatley taught her to read and write. 

Wheatley publicized her poetry on a journey to London, published her book in 1773, and was also freed sometime during that year. Wheatley’s written correspondence and the content of her poetry demonstrate her prolonged devotion to her home continent.