Phillis Wheatley

The Enslaved Girl Who Became America’s First Published Black Poet

Phillis Wheatley’s life started like no epic poem you’d wish on anyone. Born around 1753 in West Africa, she was kidnapped at the age of about seven, survived the brutal Middle Passage, and arrived in Boston in 1761 aboard the slave ship Phillis—a name she inherited, though hardly by choice. Purchased by the Wheatley family, her new “job” should have been housework. Instead, she picked up English in under two years and, for good measure, dove into Latin, Greek, theology, and classical literature. Imagine showing up to work and immediately outpacing your employers in Shakespeare quotes.

By twelve, Phillis was writing poetry so polished that Boston’s high society couldn’t believe an enslaved African girl had penned it. They literally held a panel of prominent men to interrogate her talent—and she passed with style. Her verses were a mix of biblical references, moral philosophy, and pointed commentary on freedom that made readers nod in admiration and perhaps squirm a little in their powdered wigs.

In 1773, her book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published in London, making her the first African American, and only the third woman in colonial America, to publish a book of poetry. She even caught George Washington’s attention—he invited her to visit and praised her work (because even the Father of Our Country knew you didn’t ignore a woman with that kind of pen).

Though freed shortly after her book’s release, freedom in Revolutionary America didn’t come with a pension. Phillis faced poverty, the loss of her husband, and the heartbreak of burying all three of her children. She died in 1784 at just 31 years old, leaving behind a legacy that still resonates: proof that brilliance can break chains, even if the world isn’t ready for it.

“Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side.”

—Phillis Wheatley, in a poem to George Washington, 1775