Hidden LiteraciesMain MenuHidden Literacies - An IntroductionPhillis Wheatley, Amanuensisa letter from Susanna Wheatley, likely dictated to the famous poet she enslaved — with commentary by Katy L. ChilesWalt Whitman’s Baby Talka Confederate veteran writes fan mail in the voice of his infant son — with commentary by Matt Cohen‘Permit Us to Speak Plainly’the 1849 Munsee Petition to Zachary Taylor — with commentary by Andrew NewmanJuvenile Journalism and Genocidea manuscript magazine by three young boys — with commentary by Karen Sánchez-EpplerVisions, Versions, and DeedsCreek Sovereignty in Coosaponakeesa’s Memorials — with commentary by Caroline WiggintonAccounting for Mary Fowler Occoma household inventory of Mary Occom — with commentary by Kelly WisecupLetters and Charactersletter from Walter Duncan to Dollie Duncan from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary — with commentary by Ellen CushmanWriting the Prisoncongregate literacy in the New York penitentiary — with commentary by Jodi Schorb‘Outlandish Characters’a Kickapoo prayer stick — with commentary by Phillip RoundCesar Lyndon Was Herethe account book of an enslaved man in colonial Rhode Island — with commentary by Tara A. BynumBirch-Bark Publications of Simon PokaganMargaret NoodinHidden Literacies - The PodcastAll podcast episodesHidden Literacies - CreditsIndexIndex of all pages
Phillis Wheatley's Hidden Literacy
12019-07-16T10:53:15+00:00Emma Sternberg9dd1d1d0edcde572d5819158147f717e072da3b911Chiles Page 2plain2019-07-16T10:53:15+00:00Emma Sternberg9dd1d1d0edcde572d5819158147f717e072da3b9But this letter—from Susanna Wheatley to Mohegan minister Samson Occom—suggests that Phillis Wheatley did not always write alone. Indeed, hidden within this letter is a writing skill Wheatley likely performed in being a scribe, serving as an amanuensis for Susanna, who, though literate, was too ill to inscribe her letter to Occom herself and dictated to Wheatley instead.8 Certainly, this specific co-labor is not the same kind of collaboration that has worried Wheatley readers and scholars for almost 250 years. Instead, this literacy has remained hidden, in plain sight, almost never commented upon by scholars. But considering this hidden literacy—the labor that Phillis probably contributed as an amanuensis to the production of this letter from Susanna—might help us reconceive the suspected collaboration between Susanna and Phillis that some readers conjectured went into the publication of Poems on Various Subjects. In addition, attending to this hidden literacy has the potential not only to give us another way to understand Phillis Wheatley but also to change the way we think about early African American literature.
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12019-07-16T11:33:37+00:00Emma Sternberg9dd1d1d0edcde572d5819158147f717e072da3b9Commentary: Essay and PodcastJoelle Thomas12Katy L. Chiles Commentaryplain2021-03-11T22:50:50+00:00Joelle Thomas0feb3b2b7a8befeee2c7d2d710d303ed96772141