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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

"To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady" in Observations upon Negro-Slavery

Date

1784

Written by

Charles Crawford, American, 1752 - 1830

Subject of

Phillis Wheatley Peters, American, ca. 1753 - 1784

Published by

Joseph Crukshank, died 1836

Caption

Phillis Wheatley Peters (c. 1753 – 1784) was born in West Africa and captured by slave traders as a child, whereupon she was sold to John and Susanna Wheatley of Boston, Massachusetts. She was named after the slave ship on which she was transported to the Americas and the name of her enslavers, but her surname of Peters is that of the man she married in 1778—John Peters, a free man of color.
The story of the discovery of her talent by the Wheatley family is oft told—they taught her to read and write, and by age fourteen, she had begun to write poetry that was soon published and circulated amongst the elites of late eighteenth century America and Great Britain. Her first and only volume of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), was published in London with the assistance of wealthy abolitionists. Peters’ poetry brought her renown in abolitionist circles as proof of the humanity of those of African descent and the inhumanity of the institution of slavery.
The Wheatleys manumitted Peters in 1773 under pressure from critics who saw the hypocrisy in praising Peters’ talent while keeping her enslaved. They died within a few years of this decision, and Peters soon met and married grocer John Peters. Her life afterwards was indicative of the troubled freedom of African Americans of the period, who were emancipated but not fully integrated into the promise of American citizenship. Peters was also affected by the loss of all three of her children—the birth of the last of whom caused her premature death at age 31 In 1784. Despite being feted as a prodigy while enslaved, the emancipated Peters struggled to find the support necessary for producing a second volume of poetry and her husband’s financial struggles forced her to find work as a scullery maid—the lowest position of domestic help. Posthumous publications of Peters’ poetry in various anthologies and periodicals solidified her image as a child poet for the benefit of abolitionist activism and African American cultural pride in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the twenty-first century, the accumulation of this collection is a restoration of Peters the woman and the influence of her poetry and activism today.

Description

A booklet, Observations upon Negro-Slavery, written by Charles Crawford and published by Joseph Crukshank in Philadelphia. The text is an argument against enslavement of Africans and for equality of people grounded in "the principles of revealed religion and natural justice." Phillis Wheatley is offered as an example of human potential on pages 5, 6, and 7 along with her poem "To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady." Booklet is 24 pages and is housed in a cardboard sleeve. Minor insect damage on the front cover and last page; back cover is missing.

Place printed

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America

Topic

African American
Christianity
Literature
Poetry
Slavery
Women

See more items in

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Collection title

Phillis Wheatley Peters Collection

Classification

Books and Published Materials

Movement

Anti-slavery movements
Abolitionist movement

Exhibition

Slavery and Freedom

On View

NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Concourse 3, C3 053

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Data Source

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Object number

A2021.113.1.5

Type

booklets

Restrictions & Rights

Public domain
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

Medium

ink on paper

Dimensions

H x W x D: 6 9/16 × 3 15/16 × 1/8 in. (16.6 × 10 × 0.3 cm)

Title

Title • "To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady" in Observations upon Negro-Slavery

Record ID

nmaahc_A2021.113.1.5

Museum

NMAAHC

Title Sort

"TO A CLERGYMAN ON THE DEATH OF HIS LADY" IN OBSERVATIONS UPON NEGRO-SLAVERY

Source

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Metadata Usage

CC0

Date

1780s

Name

Wheatley Peters, Phillis • Crawford, Charles • Crukshank, Joseph

Place

United States • North and Central America • Philadelphia • Pennsylvania

Topic

Slavery • Women • Literature • Abolitionist movement • Anti-slavery movements • Poetry

Culture

Christians • African Americans

Exhibition

NMAAHC • Slavery and Freedom

Geo Location

City • Philadelphia • State • Pennsylvania • Country • United States • Continent • North and Central America

Type

Booklets

On Physical Exhibit

Yes

Online Media Type

Images

Online Media Rights

No Known Copyright Restrictions

Media

Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Rights and restrictions shown above are supplied by the Smithsonian record.

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"To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady" in Observations upon Negro-Slavery

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