The Project
 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. 
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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 also 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 have come together in shared learning throughout the 2023 anniversary year of Wheatley Peters’s Poems--and beyond
Sharing Resources
​We invite visitors to the website to return often; we’ll continue to add resources throughout 2023, including information about scholarship on Wheatley Peters, teaching resources, and links to general-interest readings. Do you have an idea for a feature story you’d like to contribute, or news of a PWP-related initiative you’d like us to spotlight? Go to our Contact Us page and send us a message.
Activities
Events Set for Early in Fall Semester 2023
August 2023:
August 30, 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Reading Poetry by and Inspired by Phillis Wheatley Peters
In-person event at TCU: BLUU Beck/Geren 
Primary audiences: area teachers/secondary students and general readers
This panel presentation will offer interpretive readings of poems by Wheatley Peters and of poetic texts inspired by her life and writings. Each presenter will offer commentary on a single poem, pairing, or related cluster, along with suggestions for teaching about and learning from that presenter’s chosen text(s). One aim of this session will be to spotlight both pathways to reading her work and ways that Black women poets have found special inspiration for their own writings by appreciating Wheatley Peters. After the presentations, the panel will address questions from the audience.
Presenters:
Mona Narain, Professor, English Department, TCU
Kelly Franklin, Doctoral Student, English Department, TCU
Linda K. Hughes, Addie Levy Professor of English, TCU
Wendy Williams, Associate Professor, Honors College, TCU
Sarah Ruffing Robbins, Lorraine Sherley Professor of English, TCU (moderator)
 
September 2023:
September 7, 4:30 ET, 3:30 CT (90 mins): “Poetic Legacies: Interpreting New Texts from Writers Inspired by Phillis Wheatley Peters”
Dr. Drea Brown/Dear Girl: A Reckoning (Gold Line Press/USC, 2015); and Alison Clarke/Phillis (U of Calgary Press) (organizer: Dr. Sarah Robbins/TCU) moderated by Aruni Kashyap (UGA)   hosted by Dean Sonja Watson. TCU Library; hybrid event including Zoom webinar access [Registration link coming in August].
Check out the details in the Activities tab or register with the links above!
One goal of our project is to foster many connections in line with our vision of participatory humanities. Thus, most events during 2023 will employ a virtual format and will be recorded for continued access. Others will be hybrid, allowing a blend of in-person attendance and online participation; a few will be in-person only. Our range of activities aims to invite diverse audiences to join in the study of Wheatley Peters and her era as an important example of how voices originally speaking from marginalized positions generate valuable cultural legacies.
 
 
 

Codirectors

Barbara McCaskill
Professor of English (UGA)
Mona Narain
Professor of English (TCU)
Susan Rosenbaum
Associate Professor of English (UGA)
Sarah Ruffing-Robbins
Professor of English (TCU)
Photo Credit: "Phillis Wheatley, Poet at Work" by Lorraine DiSabato

Check the “Activities” Tab to view our calendar of events and link up to recordings of some past events.
Join a litany of Wheatley scholars to celebrate her 250-year anniversary.