The Project
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Why Phillis Wheatley Peters?
Phillis Wheatley arrived in Boston from her African homeland in July 1761. Though only about seven or eight years old, she was transported with other captives aboard the ship Phillis as part of an ongoing push to make slavery central to the economies, politics, and daily life in North America. Purchased by a New England merchant, John Wheatley, and “given” to his wife Susanna, the young girl found herself far from her West African home, suddenly immersed in a foreign culture where--however benign the Wheatleys themselves may have viewed their relationship to the young girl--she was, in fact, enslaved.
Though we cannot recover much of Phillis Wheatley’s personal or family history prior to what must have been a terrifying transatlantic journey, we do know reasons why she remarkably became, as a young adolescent, a celebrity author, first in her new “home” city of Boston, and, not long afterwards, internationally. |
About Our Project
The Genius of Phillis Wheatley Peters embodies both an honoring of the poet and her legacies and an opportunity to spotlight the learning power and the significance of literature in our lives. Through a partnership of the University of Georgia and TCU, this project celebrates the efficacy of collaborative learning informed by a participatory vision of the humanities and the arts. Our codirectors, contributing team members, and many sponsoring groups and organizations came together in shared learning throughout the 2023 anniversary year of Wheatley Peters’s Poems -- and have continued to celebrate her legacies beyond the anniversary year.
Celebrating Phillis Wheatley Peters in a Participatory Humanities Project
In a blog entry for her website, project codirector Sarah Ruffing Robbins reviewed the work of The Genius of Phillis Wheatley Peters in its early stages and looked ahead to activities set for fall 2023.
Aims of this Website
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During its initial stage, this website sought to connect communities interested in learning about Whetaley Peters. Thus, while promoting particular events sponsored by The Genius of Phillis Wheatley Peters team, we also highlighted sister projects; created new resources for teaching and scholarship; and alerted website visitors about the multiple possibilities for joining our enterprise.
As the official events for the initiative came to a close in spring 2024, the website shifted to serving as an archive of this project's history while continuing to make its resources available to audiences around the world. We invite current visitors to our site to continue utilizing the materials here for work related to Wheatley Peters. Even more broadly, we hope this website -- as archive-- can serve as a model for future participatory humanities endeavors on a range of topics. |
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How to use this website's Resources
In the Resources section, we spotlight scholarship published around the time of the anniversary year; offer a wide range of teaching resources; suggest general readings to provide context for studying Wheatley Peters; and share news and media from around the time of the anniversary year.
To do |
Go here |
To take a video tour of the site |
Click on the link here and below this chart |
To learn basic information about PWP |
Read in this section of resources |
To find curricular support of your teaching |
Go to the teaching materials. |
To see a listing of scholarship on PWP from around the time of the anniversary |
Visit this section of our resources. |
To review examples of feature stories from the anniversary period |
Explore news and media collection |
To see a record of the programming we sponsored for the anniversary period |
Go to the activities archive |
To view videos of many of our events |
See the gallery or select a particular event |
To meet our team members |
View team with bio blurbs and sponsor list |
To find out about “sister” projects |
Read overviews of related PWP endeavors |
Watch video tour of the website here:
Archive of Activities
Check out our Activities page for the records of past events.
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Final scholarship roundtable: November 2023
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Codirectors and Team Members
See below our three project codirectors, and visit the Team section to learn about contributors, cosponsors, and sister projects.
Barbara McCaskill
Professor of English (UGA) |
Mona Narain
Professor of English (TCU) |
Sarah Ruffing-Robbins
Professor of English (TCU) |
Gallery
Leadership of
Website Design, Writing, and Editing:
Sanjana Chowdhury, Sarah Ruffing Robbins,
and Adrienne Stallings
Website Design, Writing, and Editing:
Sanjana Chowdhury, Sarah Ruffing Robbins,
and Adrienne Stallings
