# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/phillis-wheatley
# Generated: 2026-09-01T19:53:02.647Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/phillis-wheatley"
name: "Phillis Wheatley"
slug: "phillis-wheatley"
description: "She was stolen from West Africa as a child, enslaved in Boston, and became the first African-American poet to see a book in print — a collection that drew praise from George Washington and made her famous on both sides of the Atlantic before she was twenty."
tagline: "First African-American poet (1753–1784)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Houghton_AC85.A%E2%84%93245.Zy773w_-_Wheatley%2C_frontispiece_-_cropped.jpg"
gender: "female"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1753"
deathDate: "1784-12-05"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           55.46
  momentum:             0.009718172983479104
  historical:           24.123836
  currentAttention:     0.05398984990821724
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Writers"
    slug: "writers"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "Poetry"
    slug: "poetry"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
  - name: "Americas"
    slug: "americas"
  - name: "Early Modern Era"
    slug: "early-modern-era"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q257911"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Phillis%20Wheatley"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81_%D0%A3%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BB%D0%B8"
    title: "Филис Уитли"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatleyov%C3%A1"
    title: "Phillis Wheatleyová"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "فیلیس ویتلی"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A1_%D7%95%D7%99%D7%98%D7%9C%D7%99"
    title: "פיליס ויטלי"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%96%D5%AB%D5%AC%D5%AB%D5%BD_%D5%88%D6%82%D5%AB%D5%A9%D5%AC%D5%AB"
    title: "Ֆիլիս Ուիթլի"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9B%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC"
    title: "フィリス・ホイートリー"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A4%E1%83%98%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98%E1%83%A1_%E1%83%A3%E1%83%98%E1%83%A2%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98"
    title: "ფილის უიტლი"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%95%84%EB%A6%AC%EC%8A%A4_%ED%9C%98%ED%8B%80%EB%A6%AC"
    title: "필리스 휘틀리"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Phillis Wheatley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ig.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/37e5bb92-ed05-43c2-a02b-e415c9e4f352"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://www.discogs.com/artist/1928843"
    title: "Discogs"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born in West Africa around 1753, she was sold into slavery at seven or eight and bought by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write and encouraged the poetry that emerged. In 1773 she traveled to London with the Wheatleys' son to seek publication; there she met patrons, and on September 1 her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared, bringing her fame in England and the colonies. The Wheatleys emancipated her shortly after, then died, and she married John Peters, a poor grocer. They lost three children, all of whom died young. She died in poverty and obscurity on December 5, 1784, at thirty-one.