Phillis Wheatley
Also found under Poetry, Black Writers
Who Was She?
Phillis Wheatley was born circa 1753 in Gambia, but was kidnapped from her home by slave traders at the age of seven and brought to America. She was enslaved as a domestic in the Wheatley household, where she learned to read and write. In 1767, when Wheatley was just thirteen years old, her first poem, "On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin,” premiered in Rhode Island's Mercury, and in 1770, her work An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of that Celebrated Divine, and Eminent Servant of Jesus Christ, the Reverend and Learned George Whitefield , earned her international acclaim. Her works were printed and praised by readers in both America and England, and she became a well-known name among American colonists, her achievements fueling the dawning antislavery movement in America. Her "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" became the first book of poetry ever to be published by an African-American.
What Did She Write About?
Pride in her African heritage, Opposition to slavery, Religion