Phyllis Wheatley's poem from Elizabeth Warren's New Year's Eve speech in Boston
After the lawsuit, while still an enslaved woman, Phillis wrote a poem entitled On Imagination. She asks her readers to embrace the power of possibility. Here are her words:
We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,
And leave the rolling universe behind:
From star to star the mental optics rove,
Measure the skies, and range the realms above.
There in one view we grasp the mighty whole,
Or with new worlds amaze th unbounded soul.
Phillis Wheatleys spirit is the American spirit. Its the enduring spirit of imagination fortified by courage. Patriotism infused with the dreams of the great country we can be.
Phillis Wheatley challenged the power structure of the 1770s just a few years before our fledgling nation would challenge the worldwide power structure by taking on a British king in a revolution.
Yet in the face of hatred, injustice, and oppression, Black Americans throughout our history have never stopped imagining and fighting for a better tomorrow. Not just for themselves, but for our entire nation.
https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2019/12/31/read-the-full-text-of-sen-elizabeth-warrens-new-years-eve-speech-in-boston