07/29/2026
Born in West Africa in about 1753, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped and taken aboard a slave ship to Boston in 1761. Because of her frailty, she was purchased for a “trifle” as a domestic slave for Susanna Wheatley. Phillis was named for the ship that brought her to Boston, and after her enslavers. John Wheatley was a prominent Boston tailor. Phillis did not speak English when she arrived in the colonies, so she was tutored by the Wheatleys’ daughter, Mary, and received the same education that a girl of the white elite might have had. She learned reading, writing, religion, language, literature, and history.
It is believed that Phillis’s first published poem was “On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin,” which was published on December 21, 1767 in the Newport, Rhode Island, Mercury. Her fame quickly spread across the Atlantic. At 18 years old, Phillis had a collection of twenty-eight poems that she and Mrs. Wheatley advertised for publishing in the Boston papers. Despite being a household name at a young age, many colonists refused to sponsor an African writer. Phillis sought support in London, and her book “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” was published in 1773.
Phillis was manumitted around the time her book was published. She married a free Black man, John Peters, in 1778. She is considered the first African-American author, and the second woman, of a published book of poetry.
Learn more about Phillis Wheatley at “Voices of Brandywine” this Saturday August 1 between 10AM-12PM! Tickets are available in person!
