In Honor of Black History Month

Would you be shocked to hear an educated woman, stolen from Africa in her youth and sold into slavery, thank God for bringing her to America?  I was.  But that is the subject of a poem by Phillis Wheatley that I read today in a volume of poetry given me by my dear daughter Laura.

On Being Brought From Africa to America

by Phillis Wheatley (1753? – 1784)

‘Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

“Their color is a diabolic dye.”

Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,

May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.

Since I value my salvation so dearly, why should I be surprised that another person would thank God for circumstances that brought her to her own?  Because I live in the 21^st century in a culture that prefers political correctness to the Christian gospel.

Phillis Wheatly was educated along with the children of her master and learned not only English, but Latin and Greek as well.  She was the first published African-American woman poet.