Religion in Early American Writers: Essay

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By stressing her humility, Wheatley was able to remind the reader that even if he was of a 'superior' race, class, or social status, all were ultimately small in the eyes of the Almighty. Bradstreet and Wheatley gently used their supposedly 'lower' status to remind viewers that everyone was humble in God's eyes. In her poem "To the university of Cambridge, in New England" Wheatley writes of Jesus: "When the whole human race by sin had fall'n, / He deign'd to die that they might rise again." While she begins her poem referencing her color and African origin in a "land of errors," ultimately all human beings are fallen and must be justified before God, black and white. Even more explicitly in her poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America," Wheatley writes: "Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, / May be refin'd and join th'angelic train." Wheatley expresses gratitude for becoming a Christian, but rebukes Christians who do not extend charity towards all, regardless of color. However, Wheatley remains much-criticized today because of her refusal to directly address issues of oppression. In her poem "To his Excellency General Washington" Wheatley even praises the defender of "land of freedom's heaven-defended race" though her own race was denied equal rights in the Constitution.

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Unlike Wheatley, in his memoir, Olaudah Equiano directly challenges the institution of slavery, portraying the evils it generated in his own life. He depicts how slave ship owners were so cruel that they would throw their human cargo overseas for insurance money, and the depraving effects upon whites and well as blacks. Like Bradstreet and Wheatley, he makes an appeal to the Christianity of his readers, asking them to fight against a debasing institution. Contrary to allegations that Africans did not yearn to be free, Equiano depicts freedom is an innate instinct: "I most reverently bowed myself with gratitude, unable to express my feelings, but by the overflowing of my eyes, and a heart replete with thanks to God; while my true and worthy friend the captain congratulated us both with a peculiar degree of heartfelt pleasure….not conquering heroes themselves, in the midst of a triumph - Not the tender mother who has just regained her long-lost infant, and presses it to the heart" felt as glad as he, states Equiano. Equiano expresses gratitude towards those who aided him, white and black. Despite not being born a Christian, he continually stresses the common, Christian morality and humanity between his (mostly)….....

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