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Phillis Wheatley
18TH CENTURY AMERICAN POET
A Child Slave—and a Brilliant Mind
2 The girl who would become known as Phillis Wheatley
was only seven years old in August of 1761, when she
was sold into slavery after being kidnapped from her
home in West Africa. Susanna Wheatley, a wealthy
Boston resident, purchased the child from a ship
This Phillis Wheatley statue is part captain, intending the girl to work as a domestic
of the Boston Women’s Memorial laborer. Susanna named her “Phillis” after the ship that
sculpted by Meredith Bergmann. carried the child into bondage.
3 Susanna Wheatley and her husband soon became
aware of Phillis’s deep intelligence. Although Phillis was
still expected to be a servant, the Wheatleys permitted
her to learn to read and write. Phillis was soon studying
the Bible, reading British authors John Milton and
Alexander Pope, and reading Greek and Latin classics by
Virgil, Ovid, and Homer.
Worldwide Fame
4 Phillis became world famous at age 17, when she
published a poem in honor of a recently departed
reverend, George Whitefield. The poem was printed in
Boston, Newport, Philadelphia, and London.
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