Phillis Wheatley Popular Books

Phillis Wheatley Biography & Facts

Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly (c. 1753 – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was kidnapped and subsequently sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent. On a 1773 trip to London with the Wheatleys' son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became her patrons. The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Prominent figures, such as George Washington, praised her work. A few years later, African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in a poem of his own. Wheatley was emancipated by the Wheatleys shortly after the publication of her book of poems. The Wheatleys died soon thereafter and Phillis Wheatley married John Peters, a poor grocer. They lost three children, who all died young. Wheatley-Peters died in poverty and obscurity at the age of 31. Early life Although the date and place of her birth are not documented, scholars believe that Wheatley was born in 1753 in West Africa, most likely in present-day Gambia or Senegal. She was sold by a local chief to a visiting trader, who took her to Boston in the then British Colony of Massachusetts, on July 11, 1761, on a slave ship called The Phillis. The vessel was owned by Timothy Fitch and captained by Peter Gwinn.On arrival in Boston, Wheatley was bought by the wealthy Boston merchant and tailor John Wheatley as a slave for his wife Susanna. The Wheatleys named her Phillis, after the ship that had transported her to North America. She was given their last name of Wheatley, as was a common custom if any surname was used for enslaved people.The Wheatleys' 18-year-old daughter, Mary, was Phillis's first tutor in reading and writing. Their son, Nathaniel, also tutored her. John Wheatley was known as a progressive throughout New England; his family afforded Phillis an unprecedented education for an enslaved person, and one unusual for a woman of any race at the time. By the age of 12, Phillis was reading Greek and Latin classics in their original languages, as well as difficult passages from the Bible. At the age of 14, she wrote her first poem, "To the University of Cambridge [Harvard], in New England".Recognizing her literary ability, the Wheatley family supported Phillis's education and left household labor to their other domestic enslaved workers. The Wheatleys often exhibited Phillis's abilities to friends and family. Strongly influenced by her readings of the works of Alexander Pope, John Milton, Homer, Horace and Virgil, Phillis began to write poetry. Later life In 1773, at the age of 20, Phillis accompanied Nathaniel Wheatley to London in part for her health (she suffered from chronic asthma), but primarily because Susanna believed Phillis would have a better chance of publishing her book of poems there than in the colonies. Phillis had an audience with Frederick Bull, who was the Lord Mayor of London, and other prominent members of British society. (An audience with King George III was arranged, but Phillis had returned to Boston before it could take place.) Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, became interested in the talented young African woman and subsidized the publication of Wheatley's volume of poems, which appeared in London in the summer of 1773. As Hastings was ill, the two never met.After Phillis's book was published, by November 1773, the Wheatleys manumitted Phillis. Susanna Wheatley died in the spring of 1774, and John in 1778. Shortly after, Phillis met and married John Peters, an impoverished free black grocer. They lived in poor conditions and two of their babies died.John was improvident and was imprisoned for debt in 1784. With a sickly infant son to provide for, Phillis became a scullery maid at a boarding house, doing work she had never done before; she developed pneumonia and died on December 5, 1784, at the age of 31, after giving birth to a daughter, who died the same day as her. Other writings Wheatley wrote a letter to Reverend Samson Occom, commending him on his ideas and beliefs stating that enslaved people should be given their natural-born rights in America. Wheatley also exchanged letters with the British philanthropist John Thornton, who discussed Wheatley and her poetry in correspondence with John Newton. Through her letter writing, Wheatley was able to express her thoughts, comments and concerns to others.In 1775, she sent a copy of a poem entitled "To His Excellency, George Washington" to the then-military general. The following year, Washington invited Wheatley to visit him at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which she did in March 1776. Thomas Paine republished the poem in the Pennsylvania Gazette in April 1776.In 1779, Wheatley issued a proposal for a second volume of poems but was unable to publish it because she had lost her patrons after her emancipation; publication of books was often based on gaining subscriptions for guaranteed sales beforehand. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was also a factor. However, some of her poems that were to be included in the second volume were later published in pamphlets and newspapers. Poetry In 1768, Wheatley wrote "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty", in which she praised King George III for repealing the Stamp Act. But while discussing the idea of freedom, Wheatley was able subtly to raise the idea of freedom for enslaved subjects of the king as well: As the American Revolution gained strength, Wheatley's writing turned to themes that expressed ideas of the rebellious colonists. In 1770, she wrote a poetic tribute to the evangelist George Whitefield. Her poetry expressed Christian themes, and many poems were dedicated to famous figures. Over one-third consist of elegies, the remainder being on religious, classical and abstract themes. 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": Many colonists found it difficult to believe that an African slave was writing "excellent" poetry. Wheatley had to defend her authorship of her poetry in court in 1772. She was examined by a group of Boston luminaries, including John Erving, Reverend Charles Chauncey, John Hancock, Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts, and his lieutenant governor Andrew Oliver. They concluded she had written the poems ascribed to her and signed an attestation, which was included in the preface of her book of collected works: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in London in 1773. Publishers in Boston had declined to publish it, but her work was of great interest to i.... Discover the Phillis Wheatley popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Phillis Wheatley books.

Best Seller Phillis Wheatley Books of 2024

  • Answering the Cry for Freedom synopsis, comments

    Answering the Cry for Freedom

    Gretchen Woelfle & R. Gregory Christie

    Uncover the lives of thirteen AfricanAmericans who fought during the Revolutionary War.   Even as American Patriots fought for independence from British rule du...

  • The Trials of Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    The Trials of Phillis Wheatley

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

    In 1773, the slave Phillis Wheatley literally wrote her way to freedom. The first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in English, she was emancipated by her owners...

  • Born Reading synopsis, comments

    Born Reading

    Kathleen Krull & Virginia Loh-Hagan

    Once books kickstart their brains, girls change history. Discover the foundation of reading that empowered some of the world’s most influential women in this informative and inspir...

  • My Name Is Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    My Name Is Phillis Wheatley

    Afua Cooper

    The remarkable story of the young slave Phillis Wheatley, America's first black poet.

  • The Poems of Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    The Poems of Phillis Wheatley

    Phillis Wheatley

    Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) is the first book of poetry published by an African American author. Written while Wheatley was a slave in Boston, the collect...

  • Works of Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    Works of Phillis Wheatley

    Phillis Wheatley

    7 works of Phillis Wheatley American poet (17531784) This ebook presents a collection of 7 works of Phillis Wheatley. A dynamic table of contents allows you to jump directly to the...

  • The Right to Write synopsis, comments

    The Right to Write

    Kathrynn Seidler Engberg

    The Right to Write examines how the early American poets Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley gained agency within a traditionally patriarchal field of literary production. Tracing...

  • Phillis Wheatley as Prophetic Poet synopsis, comments

    Phillis Wheatley as Prophetic Poet

    Wallis C. Baxter III

    In You Must Be Born Again: Phillis Wheatley as Prophetic Poet, the author argues that Phillis Wheatley is the mother of liberation theology. The author uses Wheatley’s poetry and l...

  • Liberty Is Sweet synopsis, comments

    Liberty Is Sweet

    Woody Holton

    A “deeply researched and bracing retelling” (Annette GordonReed, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian) of the American Revolution, showing how the Founders were influenced by overlooke...

  • The Slave Poet from Boston - Collected Writings on Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    The Slave Poet from Boston - Collected Writings on Phillis Wheatley

    Various Authors

    Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784) was an American freed slave and poet who wrote the first book of poetry by an AfricanAmerican. Sold into slavery in West Africa at the age of around...

  • What They Want synopsis, comments

    What They Want

    Omar Tyree

    Fourteen novels and counting, New York Times bestselling author Omar Tyree returns with What They Want, adding another sexy, scorching novel to his growing list of urban literature...

  • Letters from Black America synopsis, comments

    Letters from Black America

    Pamela Newkirk

    Letters from Black America fills a literary and historical void by presenting the pantheon of African American experience in the most intimate way possiblethrough the heartfelt cor...

  • Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley

    Phillis Wheatley

    Written by Phillis Wheatley herself, this biography and poetry collection details her life as the first AfricanAmerican poet and AfricanAmerican woman to publish a book.

  • The Poems of Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    The Poems of Phillis Wheatley

    Phillis Wheatley

    Born in Africa in 1753, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped at the age of 7 and sold into slavery. At 19, she became the first black American poet to publish a book, on which this volum...

  • Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    Phillis Wheatley

    Emily R. Smith

    Phillis Wheatley was the very first African American woman to have a book published. Readers will learn about her fascinating life as a slave, poet, and author in this engaging bio...

  • Being Brought from Africa to America - The Best of Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    Being Brought from Africa to America - The Best of Phillis Wheatley

    Phillis Wheatley

    Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784) was an American freed slave and poet who wrote the first book of poetry by an AfricanAmerican. Sold into a slavery in West Africa at the age of arou...

  • The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley

    David Waldstreicher

    A New York Times notable book of 2023 | A finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography“[An] erudite, enlightening new biography . . . [Waldstreicher’s] interpretatio...

  • Geographies of Flight synopsis, comments

    Geographies of Flight

    William Merrill Decker

    African American writing commonly represents New World topography as a set of entrapments, contesting the open horizons, westward expansion, and individual freedom characteristic o...

  • The Great Poems by African American Writers synopsis, comments

    The Great Poems by African American Writers

    Phillis Wheatley, Frances E. W. Harper, James Weldon Johnson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen & Langston Hughes

    African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18thcentury writers as Phil...

  • Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    Phillis Wheatley

    Dayana

    This series of "The American Revolution Reports" comes from Anika Williams 5th Grade class.  They did an extensive study of the American Revolution and created reports over an...

  • Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    Phillis Wheatley

    Emily R. Smith

    Introduce your students to the life of Phillis Wheatley, the first African American to have a book published in the United States. Students will explore the author's early years in...

  • Women Who Wrote synopsis, comments

    Women Who Wrote

    Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Gertrude Stein & Phillis Wheatley

    Meet the women who wrote.  They wrote against all odds. Some wrote defiantly; some wrote desperately. Some wrote while trapped within the confines of status and wealth. S...

  • Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    Phillis Wheatley

    Bunmi Oyinsan

    Every new generation of children should be enthralled by stories of famous people from their history. The Legends of Africa Series are fictionalized stories about real legends of A...

  • Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, Third Ed. synopsis, comments

    Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, Third Ed.

    Wheatley, Phillis

    Margaretta Matilda Odell combines her biography of Phillis Wheatley with Wheatley's poems and those by George Moses Horton to draw parallels between the two poets regarding the...

  • Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and a slave synopsis, comments

    Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and a slave

    Phillis Wheatley

    This volume is a memoir and collection of poems by Phyllis Wheatley, the first AfricanAmerican poet and first AfricanAmerican woman to publish her writing in America.

  • Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons synopsis, comments

    Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons

    Ann Rinaldi

    Kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold as a slave in 1761, a young girl is purchased by the wealthy Wheatley family in Boston. Phillis Wheatleyas she comes to be knownhas an e...

  • Invincible synopsis, comments

    Invincible

    Wade Hudson & E. B. Lewis

    This lyrical picture book explores the birth of Black America, focusing on the littleknown men and women who fought for justice and for an America where freedom truly rang for all....

  • Phillis Sings Out Freedom synopsis, comments

    Phillis Sings Out Freedom

    Ann Malaspina & Susan Keeter

    In the fall of 1775, General George Washington was struggling to find a way to fight the British so that the colonies could be free from England. Phillis Wheatley, and African Amer...

  • Complete Writings synopsis, comments

    Complete Writings

    Phillis Wheatley & Vincent Carretta

    The extraordinary writings of Phillis Wheatley, a slave girl turned published poetIn 1761, a young girl arrived in Boston on a slave ship, sold to the Wheatley family, and given th...

  • Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    Phillis Wheatley

    Phillis Wheatley

    In 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral became the first book of poetry by an AfricanAmerican author to be published. At the tender age of seven, Phillis ...

  • Phillis Wheatley Chooses Freedom synopsis, comments

    Phillis Wheatley Chooses Freedom

    G.J. Barker-Benfield

    The dramatic story of Phillis Wheatley, a free, black poet who resisted the pressures of arranged marriage, truly embodying the ideals of the American RevolutionThere is an uncomfo...

  • The Poems of Phillis Wheatley synopsis, comments

    The Poems of Phillis Wheatley

    Wheatley, Phillis

    With the founding in 1909 of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) came a rise of interest in African American literature. As Phillis Wheatley was ...