Phillis Wheatley
First African-American poet (1753-1784) · United States · Writers · Died at 31
Phillis Wheatley is read about 430 times a day, in 44 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 16 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 361 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?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.
A life in dates
Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
Houghton AC85.Aℓ245.Zy773w - Wheatley, frontispiece - cropped
"Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" by Phillis Wheatley - by Joy of Museums
Front Side Phyllis Wheatley YWCA Historical marker
Frontis.- portrait of Phyllis Wheatley, and title p. of Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects..., London, 1773 LCCN2004682060
Houghton AC85.Aℓ245.Zy773w - Wheatley, title page
John Wheatley letter
Memoir-1838
Miami FL Overtown Phillis Wheatley Elementary SchoolIn their own words 10
, Celestial choir! enthron'd in realms of light, Columbia's scenes of glorious toils I write. While freedom's cause her anxious breast alarms, She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See mother earth her offspring's fate bemoan, And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
Olive and laurel binds her golden hair: Wherever shines this native of the skies, Unnumber'd charms and recent graces rise. Muse!
About this person
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.
Writers from the United States 6
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