"To A Gentleman of the Navy" in Royal American Magazine

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

An edition of The Royal American Magazine for December, 1774, edited and published by Joseph Greenleaf in Boston. Pages 473 and 474 feature the poem "To a Gentleman in the Navy" by Phillis Wheatley. The poem is given a preface that begins [By particular request we insert the following Poem addressed, by Phillis, (a young African, of surprising genius) to a gentleman of the navy, with his reply.] and a second paragraph asserting that the poem is evidence that "uncultivated nature" is an issue of education on not racial descent. A response poem, titled "The Answer," runs on pages 474 and 475. Magazine pages numbered 444 through 480. Magazine was previously bound. Leather spine is slightly powdery and split; pages somewhat yellowed overall with minor foxing.

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