Poetry For All

Episode 105: Phillis Wheatley Peters, "To the Earl of Dartmouth"

February 19th, 2026  |  Season 8  |  25 mins 44 secs

18th century, black history month, encomium, guest on the show, rhymed verse

Today, joined by Professor Kirsten Lee, we read a poem about freedom written on the eve of the American Revolution by Phillis Wheatley, the first African American to publish a book of poetry. In praise to the new British Secretary of State, she guides him how to rule while tying an American love of Freedom to her own personal experience of enslavement.