John Erving Meets Phillis Wheatley

      Or Did He?

African slavery was a fact of life in Colonial Boston. Black house servants or dock workers were not notable. It is hard to believe that many of the wealthy class did not have a connection to the profitable trade in African lives. Many prominent New England families had ties to the plantations on the Caribbean islands or in the American south. If they did not have an ownership interest, they supplied them with processed fish that would not sell elsewhere. They imported their molasses or rum. Or they simply prospered from free enslaved labor at home.

So it was not remarkable when the child of six or seven, whose age was reportedly marked by her missing front teeth, was sold to the family of prominent taylor John Wheatley in 1761. They gave her the name of the ship that brought her from West Africa, the Phillis and, as was the custom, she used the surname of her enslaver when one was called for. The name her mother called her was forgotten. 

Even in her servitude, Phillis was recognized as a bright child. She loved to learn and was tutored by the children of the household. After mastering English, she learned to read "the classics" in Latin and Greek. She began to write poetry that reflected events of the time. Some of her verses, eulogies, were published in the newspapers.

Phillis Wheatley statue by Meredith Bergmann 2003, photo by the artist.(1)

The Wheatleys sought to publish her poems as a book, but who would believe the ability of a slave girl to produce such creative works?  Who would buy her book? Advertisements were placed in Boston papers for subscribers for a publication run, but it was not successful. No one in Boston wanted to take the risk of printing her book without assurances of a return. The Wheatleys took her to London where they found a more open group of investors, but not before convening a group of respected gentlemen in Boston to attest to her talents. The following introduction was printed in the front of her book of poetry, Poems of Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, the first work to be published by an African writing in America. 

We whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the Poems specified in the following Page, were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was but a few Years since, brought an uncultivated Barbarian from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a Family in this Town. She has been examined by some of the best Judges, and is thought qualified to write them. 

His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Governor,

The Hon. Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant-Governor,

The Hon. Thomas Hubbard ,          The Rev. Charles Chauncy, D.D.

The Hon. John Erving,                    The Rev. Mather Byles, D.D.

The Hon. James Pitts,                    The Rev. Ed. Pemberton, D.D.

The Hon. Harrison Gray,                The Rev. Andrew Elliot, D.D.

The Hon. James Bowdoin,             The Rev. Samuel Cooper, D. D.

John Hancock, Esqr.                      The Rev Mr. Samuel Mather,

Joseph Green, Esqr.                      The Rev. Mr. John Moorhead,

Richard Carey, Esqr.                      Mr. John Wheatley, her Master

Did they refer to themselves as "some of the best Judges"? Or were they giving their names to attest to an examination by someone else? 

John Erving's inclusion in this group is another sign of his position in Boston's political scene of the eighteenth century. And John Wheatley was unabashedly "her Master."

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Notes: (1)   Boston's Women's Memorial, see the artist's information here.