Facts

• Phillis Wheatley was the first African American and the third woman in America to publish a book.

• Phillis was the first African American woman to make a living from her writings.

• Her writing was so exquisite that Bostonians did not believe she was the author of her work. A panel of 17 notable Bostonians verified her writing.

• Through her work, Wheatley is credited with helping create the foundation of African American literature.

• Phillis was purchased by John and Susanna Wheatley, a wealthy family from Boston, Massachusetts to help with housework.

• Phillis was named after the slave ship that brought her to America.

• When she was baptized she adopted her master’s last name, Wheatley.

• We do not know exactly when and where Phillis was born. Historians believe that she was born around 1753 in Western Africa, modern day Gambia or Senegal.

• She was frail and had poor health during her entire life, she died at age 31.

• Phillis was taught how to read and write by Mary Wheatley, daughter of John and Susanna Wheatley.

• She did not speak English when she came to the Wheatley family.

• She was a precocious learner. She learned English, Latin, Greek and English literature. The Bible was her favorite book. She was reading the Bible within 18 months of her arrival in America.

• At 14 she published her first poem “On Messrs Hussey and Coffin” in the Newport Mercury.

• Publishers in Boston refused to publish a book by a slave.

• Her book of poems “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” was first published in London and financed by Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon.

• She was invited to George Washington’s house for a private reading of her poem “To His Excellency, George Washington”.

• Phillis acquired her freedom in 1778 when John Wheatley died.

• Phillis married John Peters with whom she had three children. All of them died in infancy.

• Her husband was incarcerated for debt.

• During her final years Phillis worked as a maid in a boarding house.

• She died in poverty at age 31.

Read more about facts of African American heroes:

Frederick Douglass

Harriet Tubman 

Crispus Attucks

Next – Timeline of the life of Phillis Wheatley>>