It was a testimony to freedom: “Can I then but pray,” she wrote, “Others may never feel tyrannic sway?”
You might know her as the woman forever poised in thought at Boston’s Women’s Memorial between Fairfield and Gloucester Streets on Commonwealth Ave.
What each passerby might not know is the extraordinary story she has shared with her flawlessly balanced feather quill and the stories she continues to inspire.
America’s first Black poet, Phillis Wheatley was born on May 8, 1753, in The Gambia where she grew up until she was kidnapped at about age 7 or 8.
After crossing the Middle Passage on a slave ship, she arrived in Boston where John Wheatley bought her from the city’s slave market to be a servant for his wife Susannah Wheatley.
Credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones
Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including the volumes of poetry
Inquisition,
The Far Mosque, winner of Alice James Books’ New England/New York Award;
The Fortieth Day;
Bright Felon and
Wind Instrument. His novels include the recently published
The Secret Room: A String Quartet and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir
Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies and
Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice. He is also an accomplished translator (of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others) and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism. After a career in public policy and organizing, Ali taught at various colleges and universities, including Oberlin College, Davidson College, St. Mary’s College of California, and