Three Women Writers: A Study in Virtue and Christianity of the 18th and 19th centuries

The popularity of Toni Morrison's Beloved has recently awakened a mainstream interest in African-American literature. Writers, such as Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes, have also facilitated the infiltration of African American voices into popular culture. This website is devoted to three women who, like Morrison and Angelou, have aided in the formation and development of the African American literary tradition, but often remain unremembered in today's society.

Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Jacobs, and Harriet Wilson have all made valuable contributions in the forms of poetry, narrative, and fiction to the early stages of a growing literary tradition. Although these women portrayed different viewpoints, utilized different writing styles, and wrote within different contexts many comparisons can be made amongst their work. Specifically this site focuses on the common themes of virtue and Christianity represented in the authors' work and in their lives.

Wheatley was born in Africa in the early 1750's and was brought to Boston in 1761 as a slave. The Wheatley family, who was a prominent family in the Boston community, purchased her. The Wheatley's encouraged and taught her, and within sixteen months Phillis was reading and writing fluent English. At the age of fourteen she was writing poetry and hailed as a prodigy of her race. In 1773, Wheatley's first and only published volume, entitled Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was released. After the death of Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley, Phillis was left to support herself as a poet and seamstress. Although she married and had children, she continued to struggle economically. Both of her children died at a boarding school, but despite this tragedy and her poverty Phillis continued to write poetry up until her death on December 5, 1784.

Harriet Wilson is believed to be the first African American woman to publish a novel in English. The rediscovery of her novel, Our Nig, in 1981 led into an inquiry into her life. Still few biographical details are known about Wilson's life. It is thought that she was born in New Hampshire in 1827 or 1828. The next known record of her is in 1850 and documents her as living with the Boyles family in Milford. She then left the Boyles in order to support herself. On October 6, 1851 she married Thomas Wilson and gave birth to her son George Mason Wilson in the spring of 1852. After being deserted by her husband, Wilson wrote Our Nig in effort to supplement her income as a seamstress and to support her son. After the death of her son in 1860, Wilson soon disappears from public record.

Jacobs was born in North Carolina in 1813 as a slave, although she wasn't aware of this misfortune until the age of six. Upon the death of her mistress, Jacobs's situation as a slave became intolerable. At the age of fifteen, she had already become the object of her master's (Dr. Flint) sexual desire. The inevitable abuse from both Flint and his wife forced Jacobs to take drastic measures to protect herself. During this time Jacobs bore two children by a prominent white man in her community, with hopes that Flint would cease his pursuit of her. Eventually Jacobs fled from her bondage and spent many years in hiding. Eventually she was emancipated and lived with her children in the North.

Virtue, like any lofty ideal, is by its very essence, indefinable. This high ideal, rather, is determined by the perceptions of each individual. Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Wilson, and Harriet Jacobs each had a different perception of virtue. Influenced by those that surrounded them, each of these pioneering writers underwent a unique struggle to define and accept their own virtue.

Phillis Wheatley, the earliest of the three writers, also had the clearest definition of virtue. Biographically, her life was clearly defined for her and her ideal all but laid before her. In her famous poem, "On Virtue," Whealtey begins with the lines, "O Thou bright jewel in my aim I strive To comprehend thee." She goes on to claim virtue, for her, is ambiguous - unattainable, yet ever present. As with her other poetry, Wheatley alludes to Christianity as an outlet for obtaining virtue. For Wheatley, virtue was purity and goodness, while the loss of virtue was to fail a higher power.

More complicated issues faced Harriet Wilson when she attempted to discover virtue. Mirrored by Frado, the protagonist from her novel, Our Nig, these two women contend with supporting children on their own. Deserted by their husbands and plagued by health issues, Wilson and Frado struggle to maintain their goodness and righteousness as mothers. Living in a society which adhered to the cult of true womanhood, a term which describes the loss of empowerment of women, both women were ridiculed for their position. Compounding this ridicule was an overall lack of education, as seen especially through Frado, which left them with an unclear picture of the world around them.

Also struggling in an ambiguous world was Harriet Jacobs. Jacobs was born a slave and had the unfortunate position as her master's "favorite." Her power loss to the undermining of the slave system, Jacobs, in hopes of preserving her virtue from her master, became pregnant by another man. In doing this, she lost the respect of her virtuous grandmother. Held as a standard-bearer of purity, Jacobs' grandmother is the central figure in her life. Her perceptions influenced by her grandmother and society at large, Jacobs, in her narrative, begs for an acceptance and understanding from her readers. Here she calls for a separate judgment for women subjected to slavery. It is here that a desperate need to preserve her virtue is seen.

The struggle for virtue coincides with a desire for acceptance and respect. Each of these women strove for a place in their society. And yet social acceptance was not the only motivating factor. Jacobs went on to have a second child, an act whose motives are not explained in her book. Wilson wrote a novel to support her child, a virtuous and honorable act that was warily regarded in its onset. Wheatley's virtue, too, was not without struggle. She suffered greatly in later life from a failed marriage, intense poverty, and a loss of social renown. It could be said that each of these women desired virtue for the same reasons, and yet it is important to remember that each based their definition of virtue uniquely.

Christianity was, by far, the most celebrated and recognized religion of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and many poets and writers of those times made a conscious decision to include the topic in their works. Whether it was directly challenged by the protagonist in a novel, or discretely advocated in a poem, Christianity was always a major theme among African American literature, and has continued to be. As this site examines these three African-American women writers, we will analyze the way in which Christianity played a role in each of their specific contexts, and the specific motivations that encouraged them to accept Christianity.

In the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, there are many references to her acceptance of Christianity. To first understand her writing, however, one must understand her upbringing. Wheatley was sold from Africa to John Wheatley, as a slave. While living with him, she was afforded the opportunity to learn how to read and write, and to speak "properly". Although most slave masters would never even think to teach their slaves, Wheatley was very lucky, in that she had a kind-hearted master who actually took the time to teach her, and treat her decently. As she adopted the various mannerisms of her master as well as the ways of the society, she also learned to embrace Christianity, and began to spread the message to her native people to learn to embrace it also: "Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th'angelic train" (Wheatley 18).

Wheatley associated Christianity with wealth and acceptance, as well as being treated kindly and with decency. Harriet Wilson, on the other hand, learned about the importance of Christianity in a completely different way. The main character, Frado, finds herself abandoned as a child by her mother, and ends up in a white household, who decided to keep and raise her, but as a slave. She soon realizes that her mistress is an evil woman, and seeks refuge with the very sweet and kind son, James. James was an adamant reader of the Bible, and often informed Frado of the importance of going to Heaven and being a "good Christian". Her mistress, Mrs. Bellmont, was also a professed Christian, but Frado's main purpose was to get to Heaven and away from her, no matter what she had to do. This was her main motivation to becoming a Christian, and she studied her Bible daily, and prayed, in the hopes that she would be there one day. James dying words to her express this:

"But Frado, if you will be a good girl, and love and serve God, it will be but a short time before we are in a heavenly home together" (Jacobs 95)

In Harriet Jacobs' narrative, she addresses Christianity by having questioning it, and comparing the practices of the preachers of it and the slaveholders. Mary Prince, a young slave girl, experiences many negative actions and attitudes towards her from her mistress and master, and finds safety from her mistress and the harsh cruelties of slavery from her grandmother. It is her grandmother with whom she has occasional talks about Christianity, and many times, Mary finds herself questioning the actions of the so-called "Christians" in the world. She has said that she does not want to be Christian if "real" Christianity was what Mrs. Flint had demonstrated to her and people in general. By questioning and observing others, she comes to her own conclusions about Christianity and its value.

The common themes of virtue and Christianity link all three of these authors, but many other issues and themes bind their lives and work to one another. One such issue is that of validity and publication. Phillis Wheatley had to undergo an oral exam conducted by the prominent white men in her community before anyone believed she was a capable writer and poet. In order to be published, an authenticating preface (issued by the same men) had to accompany her work. The validity of Harriet Jacobs' narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was also questioned for many years due to confusion caused by the use of Jacobs' pen name "Linda Brent." Much confusion surrounded the authorship of Our Nig because little information was known about Wilson's life. The novel itself had been lost for many years before being rediscovered in 1981, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Another prevalent issue in the lives of both Jacobs and Wilson in particular, is that of motherhood. For Wilson, motherhood was the driving force for publishing Our Nig. In the Preface, Wilson explains her situation, "Deserted by kindred, disabled by failing health, I am forced to some experiment which shall aid me in maintaining myself and child without extinguishing this feeble life." Her novel was an extra effort on Wilson's part to support her child. In Jacobs' case, motherhood was also a driving force. In her darkest moments, the smile of her son brought back her will to live and the sound of her daughters' voice brought joy to her heart. Her refusal to allow her children to grow up as the property of someone else drove Jacobs to free herself and her children.

Other comparisons can be made between Harriet Jacobs and Harriet Wilson's work because both women address many of the same themes but in distinctively ways. Specifically, the both focus on the themes of "true womanhood," family, property, and the social binaries (i.e.: black/white, north/south, and freedom/slavery).

Jacobs portrays the importance for strong family bonds whereas in Wilson's Our Nig bonds are weak. Throughout the novel Jacobs fights to keep her family together even throughout her trials as a fugitive slave. She also stresses the importance of her grandmother in the unification of their family through her teachings of virtue and faith. In Our Nig, Wilson depicts the fragility of the bonds between the family members. Frado's mother abandons her to pursue her own interests and the Bellmont's do not have strong emotional links with one another.

Jacobs addresses the issue of property specifically as it relates to slavery. She focuses on the slave mothers' inability to "own" their children and continually criticizes the institute of slavery and the view of slaves as "chattel." Wilson portrays a complicated view of property by having Frado become a piece of property added to the Bellmont household instead of the Bellmont family.

Throughout her narrative, Jacobs stresses the significance of the loss of innocence in slave girls. As Flint attempted to corrupt Jacobs's virtue with his sexual desires she strove to obey her grandmother's teachings and support the ideology that a "true" woman was virtuous and pious. Wilson seems to parody this idea of "true womanhood." She portrays Frado as more submissive and pious then both Mrs. Bellmont and Mary, but still they view themselves as "true" women. They utilize Frado's labor to secure a status denoted by domesticity on one hand, and leisure on the other.

Social binaries are issues that have two seperate, possibly opposite, sides. Jacobs tends to make clear distinctions between the binaries. For example, in her narrative it is always clear when Jacobs is a slave, when she is a refugee, and when she is free. But, in Our Nig, Frado is treated like a slave and feels confined by the Bellmonts, yet she is a free person. In this way, Wilson seems to complicate and combine these binaries.

Bibliography

Bennett, Jr. Lerone. Before the Mayflower: A history of Black America. New York: Penguin, 1988.

Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: Penguin, 1987.

Shields, John, ed. The Collected works of Phillis Wheatley. New York: Oxford, 1988.

Wilson, Harriet E. Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black. New York: Vintage, 1983.

Voices from the Gaps: Harriet E. Adams Wilson http://www.~engl.cla.umn.edu/Lkd/vfg/Authors/HarrietE.AdamsWilson

Voices from the Gaps: Phillis Wheatley http://www.~engl.cla.umn.edu/Lkd/vgf/Authors/PhillisWheatley

Links to Related Sites

Phillis Wheatley: Precursor of American Abolitionism

Wheatley, Phillis. Poems

Voices from the Gaps: Phillis Wheatley

Harriet Jacobs' Homepage

Hariet Wilson's Our Nig

Voices from the Gaps: Harriet E. Adams Wilson