This article was written by Claire Xu of Richard Montgomery High School
She was the first African American, first enslaved person, and the third American woman to publish poetry. Both English classes and history classes teach about her legacy, one that still continues to inspire others hundreds of years after her death. She is Phillis Wheatley.
Born in West Africa, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery at a young age. She was transported to Boston, Massachusetts, and was purchased by the Wheatley family upon arrival. John Wheatley and his wife, Susanna, named her after the ship that had transported her to America, also giving her their surname.
After discovering Phillis’s precociousness, the family taught her how to read and write. She studied the Bible, astronomy, geography, history, literature, and Greek and Latin. She also began writing poems during this time. In a poem that was published in 1773 but was likely her first poem ever written, Wheatley indicated that “despite this exposure, rich and unusual for an American slave, her spirit yearned for the intellectual challenge of a more academic atmosphere,” according to the Poetry Foundation.
By the time she turned 18, Phillis had already amassed a collection of poems which Susanna, her mistress, was willing to help her publish. They looked around Boston for a publisher, but were unable to find one that was willing to support literature by an African, so they turned to London. They gained the support of Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, who arranged for a bookseller to help them. Wheatley’s iconic book of poems, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in 1773, making it the first volume of poetry published by an African American in modern times.
Through her poetry, Wheatley expressed her thoughts on her religion and slavery, gaining the recognition of George Washington, Thomas Hutchinson and John Hancock, among others. Phillis was emancipated by the Wheatley family months before Susanna Wheatley, her benefactor, passed away in March 1774. The rest of the family died within ten years after her death. Later, Phillis married a grocer named John Peters. Due to racial discrimination, they lived in poverty. Although it is uncertain if they had children, they could have had up to three children, none of which made it to adulthood. “Ultimately, Wheatley was forced to find work as a maid in a boarding house and lived in squalid, horrifying conditions,” Biography.com says. Her already poor health declined, but she continued to write and publish poems—although on a much smaller scale.
On Dec. 5, 1784, Phillis Wheatley died in her early 30s. It is said that she may have written up to 145 total poems, but they are now lost, likely due to Peters’ desperation for subsistence. Even today, her work continues to inspire new generations, not only due to the significance of her accomplishments but because it is fundamental to the genre of African American literature.
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