While the article itself undermines its unmodified claim that “Wheatley was the first person of African descent to publish a book,” this is interesting.
Originally shared by The Public Domain Review
Phillis Wheatley, the first ever African-American woman to be published, died today in 1784. Vincent Carretta looks at her remarkable life: http://buff.ly/2gTJLSE
I assume your comment about the claim that she was the first person of African descent to publish a book is about the Roman poet Terence. That raises two questions:
Did Terence publish any books? He was a playwrite. I expect his work eventually got included in books at some point, possibly long after his death–does that count?
Terence was apparently a Berber from North Africa. That’s African in the geographical sense, but not in the racial sense in which we are used to thinking of the term.
The article goes on to claim “and consequently the first international celebrity of African descent.”
That’s pretty clearly false. Slaves were imported into the Islamic world from sub-saharan Africa from an early date, and some of their descendants became famous. Ziryab, a Muslim musician, poet and polymath, was an international celebrity in the 9th century. So was Ibrahim ibn al Mahdi, son, brother, and uncle of caliphs and briefly a pretender to the caliphate, as well as a famous musician and gourmet.
I assume your comment about the claim that she was the first person of African descent to publish a book is about the Roman poet Terence. That raises two questions:
Did Terence publish any books? He was a playwrite. I expect his work eventually got included in books at some point, possibly long after his death–does that count?
Terence was apparently a Berber from North Africa. That’s African in the geographical sense, but not in the racial sense in which we are used to thinking of the term.
The article goes on to claim “and consequently the first international celebrity of African descent.”
That’s pretty clearly false. Slaves were imported into the Islamic world from sub-saharan Africa from an early date, and some of their descendants became famous. Ziryab, a Muslim musician, poet and polymath, was an international celebrity in the 9th century. So was Ibrahim ibn al Mahdi, son, brother, and uncle of caliphs and briefly a pretender to the caliphate, as well as a famous musician and gourmet.
St Augustine was also of Berber descent. There are several different racial groups in Africa, of course.
She was certainly an early example of a person of African descent who was internationally celebrated for her literary talent. Let’s go with that.
St Augustine was also of Berber descent. There are several different racial groups in Africa, of course.
She was certainly an early example of a person of African descent who was internationally celebrated for her literary talent. Let’s go with that.