DeadpanAnn (old blogger version)

Most of the ones on the list I knew, but who is Phyllis Wheatley?

I'll have to think on this one a bit and get back to you, you already have all the good ones.

Phyllis Wheatley was the first black woman to be published in the U.S. She was a poet. She was born in Senegal Africa, sold into slavery by Africans at age 7, and sold to a Bostonian named John Wheatley. He converted her to Christianity and educated her. She wrote poems to honor important white men, and to support America during the Revolutionary War, and this ultimately earned her freedom. She had to defend herself against accusations that she hadn't actually written her poems herself because nobody thought a black woman would be smart enough to write them. She actually had to go to court over this and her poems were examined by John Hancock as well as the Governor of Massachussetts. They finally decided she had written it herself.

The thing I like about her is that she used her poetry to point out the injustice of slavery by reminding people that blacks could be Christians just like whites. But she did it so gingerly that nobody felt she was out of line or whatever. She was a smart gal.

I took a class at MSU called Crime History in the U.S. One of the things that really got to me about slaves and how they were (mis)treated (other than the physical abuse) was the fact that so many of the slave owners were professing Christians, yet wouldn't evangelize their slaves because they didn't want them thinking (realizing) that their souls were just as valuable to God as anybody else's . They were afraid if they taught them about the love of God they would eventually rebel against the way they were forced to exist. It just boggled my mind that they were literally seen as more animal than human.

The one name I can think of is Joni Eareckson, the paralyzed woman that overcame her handicap by sheer determination.

How about Okie, Will Rogers? He never met a man he didn't like.

I vote with Diva on Will Rogers, you might also look into Jim Thorpe (Native American world-class athlete).

Thanks for the background, I will now have to Google a poem or two!

Jackie Robinson and Arthur Ashe definitely belong. I've always thought Nikola Tesla would be a great subject for kids too.