The Age of Phillis on Film
Virtual Panel
The award-winning book The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers works to transform our understanding of 18th century Boston by imagining the life and times of Phillis Wheatley Peters, the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry. Revolutionary Spaces has commissioned a series of short films called Imagining the Age of Phillis, featuring Boston-based actors performing excerpts at the Old South Meeting House and Old State House, sites linked to the poems.
Directed by John Oluwole ADEkoje and produced by Patrick Gabridge of Plays in Place, these films capture the stories of figures like Wheatley Peters, Crispus Attucks, the first to fall at the Boston Massacre, and Elizabeth Freeman, whose petition for her freedom helped end slavery in Massachusetts. The full collection of films will be available beginning the week of June 7.
This online panel brings together ADEkoje, Jeffers, and Gabridge to discuss the films and the relevance of these Revolutionary-era figures today.
This event is generously supported in part by the New England Women’s Club Fund at the Boston Foundation.
About the Panelists
Imagining the Age of Phillis Film Series
Watch the short film series directed by John Oluwole ADEkoje that brings a selection of the poems from Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’s book to life and dive deeper into the life and times of Phillis Wheatley Peters.