Vincent Carretta is a professor and author specializing in 18th-century literature.
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Kidnapped from West Africa as a child and brought to Boston, Wheatley became the first African-American woman published in English, using her poetry to navigate freedom, fame, and the politics of her time.
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Vincent Carretta is a professor of English at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage (University of Georgia Press, 2011) and the editor of Phillis Wheatley: Complete Writings (Penguin Putnam, 2001).
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Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa?
New Light on an Eighteenth‐Century Question of Identity
Slavery & Abolition | June | 2008
Olaudah Equiano, also known as Gustavus Vassa, published The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano in London in March 1789. The book quickly became a bestseller, and many new editions followed. Equiano sold his book through subscriptions, which let him control how it was produced, distributed, and how he presented himself to the public. During his lifetime, two newspapers, The Oracle and The Star, questioned his identity. They wondered whether “Olaudah Equiano” was his true name or one he used in 1789 for attention or money.
Co-authors: David Dabydeen | The Guardian | December | 2005
David Dabydeen reviews Vincent Carretta’s controversial biography of Olaudah Equiano.
Publications by this author
Co-authors: Ignatius Sancho | Broadview Press | April | 2015
Ignatius Sancho, a London shopkeeper and former butler whose family had been enslaved, became the first Black author to publish a collection of letters. He wrote about books, music, and art, composed music, and spoke out against slavery. His letters show he was a skilled writer who understood different audiences. Even after the slave trade ended, supporters of equal rights used Sancho as proof of Black intellectual ability.
Biography of a Genius in Bondage
University of Georgia Press | November | 2011
Phillis Wheatley lived an extraordinary life. She was the first English-speaking person of African descent to publish a book, and only the second woman in America to achieve this. Even more remarkable, she accomplished it while she was still a teenager and living as an enslaved person. Her writing showed her intelligence, creativity, and strength at a time when few people expected someone in her position to succeed. Wheatley’s achievements opened doors for future writers and made her an important figure in American history and literature.
Biography of a Self-Made Man
Penguin Books | January | 2007
Vincent Carretta’s biography takes a bold look at Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797), one of the most famous people of African descent in the 1700s. Equiano was a former slave whose 1789 autobiography became a powerful argument against the slave trade and an important literary work. Carretta uses extensive new research to show Equiano as a sailor, businessman, and explorer. Some evidence even suggests Equiano may have changed details about his birthplace to support the fight against slavery. The book offers a fresh view of an extraordinary man and his times.
Co-authors: Phillis Wheatley | Penguin Classics | February | 2001
Phillis Wheatley (1753?–1784) was born in West Africa, probably in what is now Gambia or Ghana. She was taken to America as a child and later became famous for her poetry. But after publishing her first book, she struggled to find an American publisher for her second collection. Because of this, she had trouble earning money from her writing. Wheatley spent her final years in Boston, where she lived in poverty and was mostly forgotten, despite her earlier achievements as a groundbreaking Black poet.
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Feature | July | 2014
Professor Vincent Carretta presents a lecture on the poet Phillis Wheatley for the 29th Annual James Russell Wiggins Lecture. The lecture was recorded on September 28th, 2012.
