Who Was Phillis Wheatley?

Phillis Wheatley Elementary

Phillis Wheatley was the third woman in the United States to publish a book of poems. She was also the first African American and the first slave to do this.
Phillis was kidnapped from her home in West Africa and taken to Boston by the slave ship Phillis in 1761. John Wheatley purchased her for his wife to be used as a servant. Phillis learned to speak English and could read the Bible. She was a very quick learner.
Susannah Wheatley, John's wife, grew very fond of Phillis. Instead of training Phillis as a domestic, John and Susannah Wheatley encouraged her to study theology and the English, Greek, and Latin classics. Her first book of poems was published in 1767. Poems on Various Subjects were published six years later. John Wheatley gave Phillis her freedom in 1773.
Phillis became internationally known and she traveled to London to promote her book. Social and Political figures of her day would call on her. George Washington and Voltaire were a few who thought highly of her and her writing.
In 1778, Phillis married John Peters, a free black Bostonian. She and her husband lived in poverty. Wheatley had written another volume of poems and letters. She applied to many publishers. Phillis died before she could find a publisher.
No one has ever found her final manuscript.
Information for this page was found at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p12.html