Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley (May 8, 1753 – December 5, 1784) was a poet. She was the first African-American person to have a book published. She was born in West Africa. However it is not known which country she was born in. It was Senegal or The Gambia. She took work as a slave in the United States when she was about seven years old on a slave ship called The Phillis. Her master and his wife taught her how to read and write. Wheatley wrote her first published poem when she was 13. She wrote over 100 poems in her life and at least 30 had lost.Although she was an African slave, Phillis Wheatley was one of the best-known poets in America. In 1770 Wheatley wrote a poetic tribute to the evangelist George Whitefield. A lot of people said good things about the poem. In 1773 a collection of 39 poems Wheatley had written, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley... It was the first writings by an African American woman to publish in public. The book made her famous in England and the American colonies. There was a poem in the book about slave trader brought people from Africa to America. Other than this Wheatley did not write much poetry about slavery. Wheatley's mistress Mrs. Wheatley died on October 18, 1773. At this point Wheatley did not have to do household chores anymore. Yet, it was not until 1778 that she had set free when her master, John Wheatley, died. That year she married John Peters. Peters was a free black grocer. They had two children. Both of them died when they were babies. Her husband got put in prison in 1784 for debt. After this Wheatley became very poor. Wheatley died of illness in 1784 in Boston. She was 31 years old.

Early life 
Phillis Wheatley was born around 1753 in Gambia, Africa. She captured by slave trader and brought to America in 1761, which she was only a seven or eight years old young girl. Her front teeth was missing that time. When she arrived America, she got sold to Wheatley family in Boston, Massachusetts. The reason John Wheatley purchased her was that he needed some young girls to serve his wife, who has weak body. In addition, the Wheatley family educated her. After sixteen months, she can read the Bible, and books in different three languages. Wheatley family saw the talent from her, so they allow her to focus on her study. When she at fourteen years old, she began writing the poem and published her first poem in 1767.

Her marriage and life after marriage 
On April 1, 1778, Wheatley married John Peters, a handsome and well-mannered free black. They knew each others for five years,then they married. He likes to call himself Dr. Peters, practicing law and keeping a grocery store at the court. But, his business did not work well and match his dream. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Wilmington, Massachusetts. Shortly returning to Boston they set up their home in the run-down section of the city. Since John Peter could not find a job and that made them became very poor. She had three children with John Peter but they all died when they were still a baby. The debt from John Peter makes Wheatley go to work as a charwoman.

Her writing style 

Her writing style seems to affect by different things.Her writing style also embraced the elegy, likely from her African roots. It was the role of girls to sing and perform funeral dirges. Religion was also a key influence, and it led Protestants in America and England to enjoy her work. Wheatley’s poems reflected several influences on her life. She is strongly against slavery, she emphasizes that all the different people should all have their freedom. For example, America separates from England, and African American set free from slavery. She wrote several letters to ministers and others on liberty and freedom. That shows she put her belief in her letters and her poems to tell the people what she thinks is right.

Legacy
Two of Wheatley's writings were printed after she died. Vincent Carretta wrote a book about Wheatley's life called Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage. It was published in 2011. In 2012, Robert Morris University named the new building for their School of Communications and Information Sciences after Phillis Wheatley. A statue of Wheatley is part of the Boston Women's Memorial on Commonwealth Ave in Boston.

References

1753 births
1784 deaths
African American writers