Black literary scholars from the 1960s to the present in critiquing Wheatley's writing have noted the absence in it of her sense of identity as a black enslaved person.[43][44] A number of black literary scholars have viewed her work—and its widespread admiration—as a barrier to the development of black people during her time and as a prime example of Uncle Tom syndrome, believing that Wheatley's lack of awareness of her condition of enslavement furthers this syndrome among descendants of Africans in the Americas.[43]
Some scholars thought Wheatley's perspective came from her upbringing. Writing in 1974, Eleanor Smith argued that the Wheatley family took interest in her at a young age because of her timid and submissive nature.[45] Using this to their advantage, the Wheatley family was able to mold and shape her into a person of their liking.[45] The family separated her from other slaves in the home and she was prevented from doing anything other than very light housework.[45] This shaping prevented Phillis from ever becoming a threat to the Wheatley family or other people from the white community.[45] As a result, Phillis was allowed to attend white social events and this created a misconception of the relationship between black and white people for her.[45]
The matter of Wheatley's biography, "a white woman's memoir", has been a subject of investigation. In 2020, American poet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers published her The Age of Phillis, based on the understanding that Margaretta Matilda Odell's account of Wheatley's life portrayed Wheatley inaccurately, and as a character in a sentimental novel; the poems by Jeffers attempt to fill in the gaps and recreate a more realistic portrait of Wheatley.[46]
