Salons in the Queen's House: Phillis Wheatley and American Revolution 250

Who was Phillis Wheatley and why is she called the 'poet laureate of the American Revolution'? 

With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this July, award-winning playwright and scholar Ade Solanke will explore the life and impact of writer Phillis Wheatley in this free talk.

Ade will discuss how Phillis was kidnapped from West Africa as a child, trafficked to and sold into slavery in Boston and became a celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Just over 250 years ago, in 1773, Phillis arrived in London to arrange publication of her collection of poems. She became the first African to publish a book of poetry in English and the literary voice of the Patriot cause. How did Phillis express her anti-slavery views whilst being sponsored by enslavers – who called themselves ‘slaves’ of the British?

Attending the talk

Ade will discuss Phillis' remarkable story and her work in the context of artist Sharon Walters' display The Many Invincible Ones, which highlights empowered women of the African diaspora. The talk will take place in the Queen's Closet, on the first floor of the Queen's House. Staff will be happy to give you directions when you arrive.

About Ade Solanke

Ade Solanke FRSA is an award-winning British-Nigerian playwright, screenwriter and academic.

Her play Phillis in London dramatises and re-imagines Wheatley’s experience of being an African woman writer abroad in Georgian London. It highlights how she was ‘celebrated’ by the elite of the capital of the British Empire – at the height of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.  

Her play, The Court Must Have a Queen, commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces and premiered at Hampton Court Palace, explores the relationship between Henry VIII and the African court trumpeter, John Blanke.

Her debut play Pandora's Box won Best New Play nomination at the Off West End Theatre Awards and was shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, Africa’s biggest literary award. Ade has written for The Guardian, BBC Radio 4, and worked as a story analyst for Disney and Sundance.

She was the Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at Emerson College, Boston and holds an MFA from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where she was a Fulbright Postgrad Fellow, a Phi Beta Kappa International Scholar, and an Association of American University Women Scholar.