Blount Mansion Semiquincentennial Celebration: Phillis Wheatley and the Black American Revolution

Blount Mansion's Semiquincentennial Celebration, in a partnership with the National Society of Colonial Dames of America (NSCDA) Knoxville Town Committee, continues with Dr. Katy Chiles of the University of Tennessee who will speak on ”Phillis Wheatley and the Black American Revolution.” Phillis Wheatley was a Black poet enslaved in Boston during the American Revolution, and her poetry took up the themes of liberty, freedom and slavery and how she started the African American literary tradition.

Chiles, an associate professor of English and Affiliate Faculty in Africana Studies, wrote "Transformable Race: Surprising Metamorphoses in the Literatures of Early America" that was published by Oxford University Press, and her scholarship has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society and the American Antiquarian Society.

Light refreshments will be served. A $10 donation is suggested at the door; cash and cards accepted. RSVP to [email protected].