Phillis Wheatley 1753?-1784
First Published African American Writer
Phillis Wheatley was only 7 or 8 years old when she was kidnapped from her home in West Africa. She was sold as a slave to John and Susannah Wheatley, who named her after the ship that carried her to Boston, Massachusetts.
Susannah Wheatley liked young Phillis and let her learn to read and write, which most enslaved people were not allowed to do. Phillis soon had a better education than many people in the American colonies.
Phillis Wheatley was about 12 years old when her first poem was published. Five years later, she wrote a poem praising George Whitefield, a well-known British minister who had just died while on a preaching tour in the United States. Her poem became very popular in both Britain and the United States. The countess of Huntingdon in Britain read the poem and paid to have a British publisher print a book of Wheatley's poems, making Wheatley the first African American to have a book published. The countess also encouraged John and Susannah to free Wheatley, which they did in 1773.
Critical Thinking
Why do you suppose most slave owners did not allow enslaved people to learn to read and write?