Phillis Wheatley
(c. 1753–1784)

Phillis Wheatley was the first African American writer of lasting importance in America. She was considered an intellectual phenomenon in the Boston and London of her. While she is best known for her Christian writings, she also wrote poems about American patriotism, imagination, slavery, and ancient culture. It was highly unusual for a slave to be an accomplished scholar and, indeed, for any woman in Colonial times to read Latin was noteworthy. Wheatley was not only well educated, but also a gifted poet. Her volume of poetry, published in London in 1773, was most likely the first book published by an African American.

There are no accurate records of when Phillis Wheatley was born; however, it is generally agreed that she was seven years old when she was brought from West Africa on a slave ship and then sold to the well-to-do family of John Wheatley in 1761. John Wheatley, a successful businessman in the busy seaport of Boston, described buying "a slender, frail female child … for a trifle."

Wheatley's wife, Susanna, soon recognized the child's intelligence and under her guidance taught the child English, Greek, Latin, the Bible, history, and literature. Four years after her arrival, Phillis Wheatley was well on her way to becoming a writer.

In 1767, when Phillis Wheatley was about 13 or 14, one of her poems was published in a Newport, Rhode Island newspaper. Three years later, she wrote a poem, "On the Death of the Reverend Mr. George Whitefield," a famous evangelist in England and the Colonies, where the poem was widely published. Wheatley sent her poem to the Countess of Huntingdon, Selina Hastings (1702–1791), an English abolitionist who had known Whitefield. The countess later became Phillis Wheatley's advocate and patron.

When Wheatley sought a publisher, her literary accomplishments were so astonishing that some doubted their authenticity. In 1772, called before a group of illustrious Bostonians, Wheatley had to prove her authorship. The examiners at the Boston courthouse included Thomas Hutchinson, governor of the colony, John Hancock, who later signed the Declaration of Independence, and Samuel Mather, Congregational Minister and son of Cotton Mather. In all, 18 members wrote a letter attesting to the truth of Phillis Wheatley's claim.

We whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the Poems … were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was but a few Years since, brought … from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a Family in this Town.

With the committee's letter attesting to her authorship, new publishing opportunities arose. In 1773, Wheatley's most significant work was published in London, due largely to the help of the Countess of Huntingdon and Susanna Wheatley. It was called Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, By Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley of Boston. Unlike modern poetry, which often deals with daily life or the poet's feelings, eighteenth-century poetry tended to present ideas or moral lessons to the reader. Wheatley's poems often resemble essays or lectures.

Phillis Wheatley's book was well regarded in England and at home, especially by those who saw her work as an argument for the unfairness of slavery. To dispel any doubts the publisher included the statement signed by the group of well-respected Bostonians. The book also contained the letter of proof written by John Wheatley and displayed an engraved portrait of the poet on the cover.

Freed just before the American Revolution broke out, and without the support of the John and Susanna Wheatley after their deaths, Wheatley had a hard time financially. Her marriage, in 1778, to a free black man named John Peters, did not improve conditions for her. Wheatley tried unsuccessfully to raise money to publish another book of poems. In addition, the war made earning a living difficult. Wheatley worked as a servant some of the time, until her death in 1784.

Wheatley's reputation continues to endure and grow as modern readers learn to appreciate how keenly aware Wheatley was of being caught up in the numerous social and intellectual forces of the societies in which she lived. Wheatley's writing remains one of the best available mirrors of the American colonial consciousness.

Although slavery was not as widespread in New England as in the South, it was still part of the life of the northern colonies. New England ship owners and businessmen were involved in the slave trade during the 1600s. The right to keep slaves was made part of Massachusetts's law in 1641. Most New Englanders who owned slaves had one or two. The slaves frequently lived and worked alongside the family members. The owners might educate the slaves and bring them to church, but the slaves were still considered the property of their owners.

Courts in Massachusetts ruled in 1781 and 1783, that having slaves was illegal. The other New England states abolished slavery by the early 1800s.

A  |  B  |  C  |  D  |  E  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  I  |  J  |  K  |  L  |  M
N  |  O  |  P  |  Q  |  R  |  S  |  T  |  U  |  V  |  W  |  X  |  Y  |  Z