David Waldstreicher’s The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence offers the fullest account to date of Wheatley’s life and works. Seized in West Africa and forced into slavery as a child, Wheatley became a noted poet at a young age. She is considered the first African American author to publish a book of poetry and had a lasting influence on the Founding generation as well as generations to come. In this episode of We the People, David Waldstreicher of CUNY and Nancy Isenberg of Louisiana State University join Jeffrey Rosen to discuss Wheatley’s life and towering poetic legacy.
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Today’s episode was produced by Lana Ulrich, Bill Pollock, and Samson Mostashari. It was engineered by Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich, Samson Mostashari, Tomas Vallejo, Connor Rust, Rosemary Li, and Yara Daraiseh.
Participants
David Waldstreicher is a distinguished professor of history, American studies, and Africana studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. In addition to his recent book, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence, he is the author of numerous other books and articles on slavery, the Founders, and more.
Nancy Isenberg is the T. Harry Williams Professor of American History at Louisiana State University. She is author of several books, including New York Times bestseller White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, as well as biographies of founders James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams. Her first book, Sex and Citizenship in Antebellum America focused on the legal, political, dissenting religious, and cultural arguments of the early women’s rights movement.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also a professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources:
- David Waldstreicher, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence (2023)
- Nancy Isenberg, Sex and Citizenship in Antebellum America (1998)
- Phillis Wheatley, Letter to Reverend Samuel Occum (1774)
Transcript
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This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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