Post 2: Anthology Entry

Lucy Terry and African Oral Tradition

Beatrice Adenigbagbe

I nominate poet Lucy Terry for inclusion into our class anthology. Terry was an enslaved West African poet and storyteller, who was stolen from Africa as an infant and sold to a man by the name of Ebenezer Wells, who lived in Massachusetts. Terry was subsequently baptized in the Christian faith at the age of five and remained under her master until her marriage to a free black man by the name of Abijah Prince. She and Prince relocated to Vermont, where they raised their six children. Terry’s skillfulness as a poet was greatly influenced by her immense ability to use her words to persuade and influence others. Proof of this was especially evident when she argued and won a Supreme Court case stemming from attempts to steal land in Vermont that was owned by her and her husband. Terry’s only surviving work was a poem titled, “Bars Fight,” which was originally passed down orally for more than 100 years before finally being put into print in 1855. As previously stated, “Bars Fight” is the only know poem or work by the poet.

Lucy Terry should be included into our class anthology because of her preservation and promotion of oral storytelling through her poem. Often, the works of literature considered most vital or valid are only considered so because they have been written down and preserved in a way that is acceptable to European or Western scholars. African stories and tales are often communicated and passed down from generation to generation orally, and as a result, are perceived to hold less permanence and therefore be less important than those written down or printed, despite the fact that the oral transmission of the work or poem is often better able to retain the meaning and original desired effects of the work than print can. Terry’s poem, “Bars Fight,” which recounts the bloody attack on a settlement of English colonists by Native Americans, paints a vivid, violent, and for the speaker, painful picture of an event that was most likely better imagined by her intended audience when it was simply performed orally, most likely through not just words but also gestures/body language. Including this poet in our anthology would not only call attention to her skillful use of words to pull forth emotion, but would also call attention to the often ignored oral tradition used by many African Americans in the eighteenth century, whose stories were just as, if not more powerful than those that have been transmitted to print.

Poem: Lucy Terry's "Bars Fight"

Works Consulted:

1. “Lucy Terry Prince Composes Poem.” John Brown Speaks in Concord, MassHumanities, www.massmoments.org/moment-details/lucy-terry-prince-composes-poem.html.
2. Terry , Lucy. “Africans in America/Part 2/Lucy Terry Prince.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h1592t.html.