A Poem of Phillis Wheatley
Today I learned about America’s first black poet, and America’s first female black poet, Phillis Wheatley. She was born in Africa and brought to Boston when she was only eight years old in 1761. She was purchased by John Wheatley, a wealthy tailor, as a companion for his wife Susannah. In their household, Phillis was taught how to read and write, and she studied the Bible and famous poets. She was considered a literary prodigy; by the age of twenty her first book was published in London, and she became a poetic superstar in the British America.
