Wheatley, Phillis, c. 1753-1784

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1753
Death 1784-12-05
Americans
English

Biographical notes:

Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784), first Black woman poet in America, was brought as an African slave in about 1761 to Boston, Mass., where she was purchased by John Wheatley. Educated in the Wheatley household, first by Wheatley's wife Susannah and later by his daughter Mary, Phillis Wheatley began writing poems in her early teens. It was through her published poetry that she became a member of Boston's literati and travelled briefly to England, returning in 1773 during Mrs. Wheatley's final illness. After John Wheatley's death, she married John Peters in 1778; she and her only surviving child died impoverished in December 1784.

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Permalink:
http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6998x2t
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Subjects:

  • African American authors
  • African American poets
  • African Americans
  • African American women poets
  • American poetry
  • Poets, American
  • Congregational churches
  • Literature
  • Poets, Black
  • Women poets
  • Slaves
  • Women poets, American
  • American poetry
  • Slaves

Occupations:

  • Poets

Places:

  • Africa, ,
  • Boston, MA, US

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