07/03/2026
Phillis Wheatley was transported from West Africa to Boston at about age seven and sold to the Wheatley family as a slave. She was taught to read and write. Seeing her talent for poetry, they encourged her. The Wheatley's son, Nathaniel, took her to London at age 20, seeking to have her poems published. That publication made her the first African-American published poet and made her famous in England and the colonies. Her poems praised liberty and the revolutionary cause. Even George Washington praised her work and invited her to met him at Cambridge in 1776. Shortly after its publication she was emancipated by the Wheatleys.