Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley arrived in Boston in 1761, a child of perhaps seven or eight, purchased by John Wheatley as a servant for his wife. The Wheatleys recognized her intelligence and taught her to read and write—in English, Latin, and Greek.

By her teens, Wheatley was publishing poetry. Her collection "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" appeared in London in 1773, making her the first African American to publish a book. She wrote to George Washington; he invited her to meet him.

Wheatley's position was impossible: celebrated for her genius while remaining property. Her poems often treated liberty as a spiritual rather than political condition—a careful navigation that allowed her to publish. She was freed after her master's death but died in poverty at about 31.

Her existence challenged Revolutionary assumptions. If an enslaved African woman could produce sophisticated poetry, what did that say about slavery's justifications?