<I>An Elegy, Sacred to the Memory of the Great Divine, the Reverend and Learned Dr. Samuel Cooper, Who Departed this Life December 29, 1783, Ætatis 59</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1784
name: label: Written by
content: Phillis Wheatley Peters, American, ca. 1753 - 1784
label: Subject of
content: Samuel Cooper, American, 1725 - 1783
label: Published by
content: E. Russell
notes: label: Caption
content: This 1784 publication is unique in that it is credited to “Phillis Peters,” her married name. This choice, rather than her enslaved child identity of “Phillis Wheatley” or even “Mrs. John Peters,” which would have been typical of the time, provides insight into Peters’ self-identification and life as a woman. It was the last work published by Peters before her death on December 5, 1784.
label: Caption
content: Phillis Wheatley Peters (c. 1753 – 1784) was born in West Africa and captured by slave traders as a child, whereupon she was sold to John and Susanna Wheatley of Boston, Massachusetts. She was named after the slave ship on which she was transported to the Americas and the name of her enslavers, but her surname of Peters is that of the man she married in 1778—John Peters, a free man of color.
label: Caption
content: The story of the discovery of her talent by the Wheatley family is oft told—they taught her to read and write, and by age fourteen, she had begun to write poetry that was soon published and circulated amongst the elites of late eighteenth century America and Great Britain. Her first and only volume of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), was published in London with the assistance of wealthy abolitionists. Peters’ poetry brought her renown in abolitionist circles as proof of the humanity of those of African descent and the inhumanity of the institution of slavery.
label: Caption
content: The Wheatleys manumitted Peters in 1773 under pressure from critics who saw the hypocrisy in praising Peters’ talent while keeping her enslaved. They died within a few years of this decision, and Peters soon met and married grocer John Peters. Her life afterwards was indicative of the troubled freedom of African Americans of the period, who were emancipated but not fully integrated into the promise of American citizenship. Peters was also affected by the loss of all three of her children—the birth of the last of whom caused her premature death at age 31 In 1784. Despite being feted as a prodigy while enslaved, the emancipated Peters struggled to find the support necessary for producing a second volume of poetry and her husband’s financial struggles forced her to find work as a scullery maid—the lowest position of domestic help. Posthumous publications of Peters’ poetry in various anthologies and periodicals solidified her image as a child poet for the benefit of abolitionist activism and African American cultural pride in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the twenty-first century, the accumulation of this collection is a restoration of Peters the woman and the influence of her poetry and activism today.
label: Description
content: A booklet containing An Elegy, Sacred to the Memory of the Great Divine, the Reverend and Learned Dr. Samuel Cooper, Who Departed this Life December 29, 1783, Ætatis 59, written by Phillis Peters, and published by E. Russell in Boston. The booklet is folded into quarters and very tattered along the edges. There are multiple tears along the edges, and creases criss-cross the paper. Brown liquid stain at upper right of front page. 8 numbered pages.
place: label: Place printed
content: Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Christianity
label: Topic
content: Literature
label: Topic
content: Poetry
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Collection title
content: Phillis Wheatley Peters Collection
label: Classification
content: Books and Published Materials
label: Movement
content: Anti-slavery movements
label: Movement
content: Abolitionist movement
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: A2021.113.1.6
objectType: label: Type
content: elegies
label: Type
content: booklets
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Public domain
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 7 15/16 × 6 9/16 in. (20.2 × 16.7 cm)