Phillis Wheatley was the first African American to become a published poet. She was also the first slave and the third woman in the United States to do so.

Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped from Senegal, West Africa at a young age and taken to Boston, Massachusetts at about the age of seven. The only thing she remembered about her life as a young child in Africa was that her mother "poured out water before the sun at his rising."

She was sold at a slave auction to John and Susannah Wheatley of Boston, who were looking for a child to bring up as a servant for Mrs. Wheatley. The Wheatleys and their two children, Mary and Nathaniel, became fond of the frail, intelligent little girl and changed their minds about training her as a servant. Mary Wheatley, who was fifteen and entertained some thoughts of someday becoming a teacher, taught Phillis to speak English and then tutored her in reading and writing. She learned extremely quickly, and Nathaniel went on to teach her Latin. By the age of twelve, she could read the Bible and was studying the Greek and Latin classics. She began writing poetry at the age of thirteen.

Her poems appeared in various publications, and she became well known around Boston. She was often asked to write a poem when someone died (elegies). At one point, she wrote a poem to George Washington, and he responded by writing her a letter. Both were published in Pennsylvania Magazine. Her poems reflect her Christian beliefs and sheltered upbringing, and she was influenced by popular British poets of the day. In 1773, thirty-nine of her poems were published in London in a volume called "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" She was acclaimed internationally as a talented poet.

Phillis Wheatley's health was poor throughout her short life. She is believed to have been asthmatic. In 1773 a doctor recommended a sea voyage to improve her health; she traveled to London to promote her book. She went as the guest of a British countess, and continued to write poetry while there. She was to be presented to the king, but received word that Mrs. Wheatley's health was failing, so she returned to Boston right away. Mrs. Wheatley died soon after, followed by Mr. Wheatley and then the daughter Mary. The son, Nathaniel, was living in England, so Phillis was left without a family. She had been emancipated, but it was now necessary to support herself as a seamstress since in those years surrounding the Revolutionary War the economy was not stable enough for her to make a living as a poet.

In 1778 Miss Wheatley married John Peters, a free African American man who owned a grocery store. The next few years were rough for the Peters. They had three children together, but none were strong. In the post-war economy, the business failed and her husband ended up in debtor's prison. Phillis Wheatley had to move to a squalid boarding house with her children, where all three of them fell ill and died. Her own health was adversely affected as well. She was trying to find a publisher for thirty- three more poems and thirteen letters when she died also, at the age of thirty-one. Her husband obtained the manuscripts, but they were lost with him and have never been found.[]
by Susan Robinson