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Phillis Wheatley was the first African American and second woman (after Anne Bradstreet) to publish a book of poems, despite spending much of her life enslaved.
Wheatley was born in Gambia, Africa, in approximately 1753, and was kidnapped by slave merchants and brought to America around 1761.
She was sold to the Wheatley family in Boston, Massachusetts when she arrived. Her initial name, Phillis, was taken from the "Phillis," the ship that transported her to America. As was customary for enslaved persons, she was given the last name Wheatley.
The Wheatley family taught her, and she could read the Bible, Greek and Latin classics, and British literature within sixteen months of being in America. She also studied geography and astronomy. Wheatley began writing poetry at the age of fourteen, and her first poem was published in 1767. Her fame grew after the publication of "An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield" in 1770. Wheatley sailed to London with her son in 1773 to publish her first collection of poems, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral—the first book published by a black woman in America—with financial backing from the English Countess of Huntingdon. It came with a foreword signed by John Hancock and other Boston luminaries and a photo of Wheatley, all of which were designed by Wheatley. She has emancipated shortly after that.
Wheatley's poetry reflected various influences in her life, including her study of famous authors like Alexander Pope and Thomas Gray. Her pride in her African ancestors was evident as well. Her literary style embraced the elegy, which was likely influenced by her background in Africa, where girls were forced to sing and perform funeral dirges
Her art was heavily influenced by religion, and Protestants in America and England praised it. Enslavers and abolitionists both read her writings to encourage the enslaved populace to convert, the latter as proof of the intellectual abilities of people of color.
Wheatley's resistance to slavery grew stronger when she backed the patriots during the American Revolution. She wrote many letters about liberty and freedom to the clergy and others. She penned a well-received poem honoring George Washington's selection as commander of the Continental Army at the height of her writing career. However, she did feel that slavery was the obstacle that kept the colonists from reaching full heroism.
Wheatley married John Peters, a free black man from Boston, in 1778, and they had three children, none of whom lived. Attempts to publish the second volume of poems were unsuccessful. She worked as a boardinghouse scrubwoman to help support her family while continuing to produce poetry. Wheatley died in December 1784 as a result of difficulties related to delivery.
Wheatley's literary and artistic abilities helped illustrate that African Americans were equally competent, creative, and intelligent human beings who profited from education and made a vital contribution to African American literature.
Phillis Wheatley is known for being the first and youngest black woman to write and publish a book. She has not received the acclaim and distinction she so well earned in the United Kingdom. Her tale has recently been re-shared and made more available to more blacks and African Americans to honor those who paved the road for them.
Wheatley believed that the power of poetry was immeasurable. John C. Shields, noting that her poetry did not simply reflect the literature she read but was based on her personal ideas and beliefs, writes:
"Wheatley had more in mind than simple conformity. It will be shown later that her allusions to the sun god and to the goddess of the morn, always appearing as they do here in close association with her quest for poetic inspiration, are of central importance to her."
Many of America's founding fathers, including George Washington, praised her. However, the release of her book did not go well since many whites were skeptical that an enslaved African could write "good" poetry. Phillis had to defend her poem authorship in court.
A delegation of Boston professionals, including Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson and his vice Governor Andrew Oliver, examined her. They concluded that she wrote the poems attributed to her and signed an attestation in her book's preface.
Critics now see her work as foundational to the genre of African-American literature. She is recognized as the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry and the first to make a career as a writer.
She seldom referred to her own life in her poems. One example of a poem on slavery is "On being brought from Africa to America":
Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic dye."
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain
At the same time, Wheatley indicates the complexity of her relationship with Classical texts by pointing to the sole example of Terence as an ancestor for her works:
The happier Terence all the choir inspir'd,
His soul replenish'd, and his bosom fir'd;
But say, ye Muses, why this partial grace,
To one alone of Afric's sable race;
