Phillis Wheatley: The First Published African American Poet

Phillis Wheatley was the first published African American poet. Her writings have helped African Americans to be more universally recognized. Born in Gambia, West Africa, she was made a slave at age seven. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and helped encourage her poetry.

Her 1773 publication of Wheatley's “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” brought her fame, with figures such as George Washington praising her work. After its release, she was emancipated by her owners but chose to stay with them until the death of her former master and the breakup of his family. She appeared before General George Washington at a poetry reading in March, 1776. She was a strong supporter of American independence, reflected in both the poems and plays she wrote during the Revolutionary War.

She married a free black grocer, John Peters; their two children died as infants. In 1784, whilst again pregnant, he abandoned her. Thereafter, she struggled to support herself but finished a second volume of poetry, though interest in it was not to be found then. Phillis Wheatley died from complications of childbirth at the age of 31. Her newborn infant died several hours later. By then, she was living in poverty.