Phillis Wheatley was a literary prodigy whose 1773 volume Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was the first book published by an African writer in America.

The girl who was to be named Phillis Wheatley was captured in West Africa and taken to Boston by slave traders in 1761. She was purchased by John and Susanna Wheatley; they named her Phillis after the ship on which she arrived in Boston. She received an education in the Wheatley household while also working for the family as a servant. John Wheatley ensured that Phillis had a thorough course of studies. She learned history, British Literature, Greek and Latin, an unprecedented education for an enslaved person or for a woman of any race at the time.

Phillis became well known around Boston for her poetry as early as 1767. Wheatley’s 1770 poem “An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of That Celebrated Divine…George Whitefield” (a prominent English Anglican preacher), expanded her renown due to its widespread publication and impressive language. The poem is typical of what Wheatley wrote during her life both in its formal reliance on couplets and in its genre; more than one-third of her known works are elegies to prominent figures or friends. A number of her other poems celebrate the nascent United States of America, whose struggle for independence she sometimes employed as a metaphor for spiritual or, more subtly, racial freedom.

As a result of her popularity, critics questioned Wheatley’s abilities, refusing to believe than an enslaved African woman could write such remarkable poetry. To counter these critics, Wheatley defended her work to a panel of prominent Boston citizens in 1772. She convinced the panel that she had authored the poems and they later wrote an attestation to her abilities, which her publishers included in the preface of her first book.

Phillis Wheatley had a difficult time getting published within the colonies. She traveled to England with the Wheatleys to attempt to get her book of poetry published. Many of her poems were published in London in 1773 in her first book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

Soon after her return to Boston, she was emancipated. Her work brought her praise from leading figures in the colonies, such as George Washington, to whom she dedicated a poem in 1775 while he was headquartered in Cambridge. Over the years following her emancipation Wheatley’s fame waned. She continued to write poems but was unable to find a publisher. She married, but struggled with poverty and poor living conditions for the remainder of her life. She died from complications of childbirth at the age of 31.

Phillis Wheatley’s poems continue to be studied by historians and literary scholars due to her talented use of language and biblical symbolism. In addition to making an important contribution to American literature, Wheatley’s literary and artistic talents helped show that African Americans were equally capable, creative, intelligent human beings who benefited from an education. She is honored as one of the three women on the Boston Women’s Memorial.

Sources:

https://www.nps.gov/people/phillis-wheatley.htm

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phillis-Wheatley

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/phillis-wheatley