Phillis Wheatley “was an American writer who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry,” Wikipedia says. “Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston.” “She was sold by a local chief to a visiting trader, who took her to Boston in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, on July 11, 1761, on the slave ship Phillis,” and “The Wheatleys named her Phillis, after the ship that had transported her to North America.” The National Women’s History Museum says her first name “was derived from the ship that brought her to North America, ‘the Phillis.’”
John Wheatley, her master, wrote in a letter printed in her book that “PHILLIS was brought from Africa to America, in the Year 1761, between seven and eight Years of Age,” and that “she, in sixteen Months Time from her Arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter Stranger before, to such a degree, as to read any, the most difficult Parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great Astonishment of all who heard her.” “Within sixteen months of beginning her lessons, she could read the Bible, Greek and Latin classics, and British literature,” the National Women’s History Museum says, and her elegy of 1770 on George Whitefield, “dedicated to a famous English preacher, made her a household name.”
But “Many colonists found it difficult to believe that an African slave was writing ‘excellent’ poetry,” Wikipedia says; in the words of Revolutionary Spaces, at Boston’s Old South Meeting House, “there were many who doubted that an enslaved Black woman was capable of such an accomplishment.” “Publishers in Boston had declined to publish it.” In the preface, “To the PUBLICK,” the publisher explains that because “Numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the Writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following Attestation, from the most respectable Characters in Boston, that none might have the least Ground for disputing their Original.” It reads: “WE whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the POEMS specified in the following Page” … “were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl” … “She has been examined by some of the best Judges, and is thought qualified to write them.” Eighteen names follow, from “His Excellency THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Governor” and “John Hancock, Esq;” to “Mr. John Wheatley, her Master.”
The men “signed an attestation, which was included in the preface of her book of collected works: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in London in 1773,” Wikipedia says, and “The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies.” How the examination happened, if it did, is unknown. “Scholars have rightly questioned whether a group examination ever took place,” Hollis Robbins writes in the Los Angeles Review of Books, and “None of us knows how Wheatley’s ‘examination’ took place.” Revolutionary Spaces says “it is unlikely Phillis Wheatley herself was interrogated,” but “it is undoubtedly true that her book contains a statement from prominent town leaders vouching for her work.”
“Wheatley was emancipated by the Wheatleys shortly after the publication of her book of poems,” Wikipedia says; the U.S. Postal Service says “Wheatley was freed from slavery in 1773.” “In 1779, Wheatley issued a proposal for a second volume of poems but was unable to publish it,” and “she developed pneumonia and died on December 5, 1784, at the age of 31”; “Wheatley-Peters died in poverty and obscurity at the age of 31.” “Phillis Wheatley Peters is broadly recognized as the first African American and the second U.S. woman to publish a book of poetry,” the National Women’s History Museum says, and the Postal Service calls her “the poet often praised as ‘the mother of African American literature.’”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- She wrote poems, but eighteen men had to sign that she really wrote them. Poems on Various Subjects (1773), “To the PUBLICK”: “that Numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the Writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following Attestation, from the most respectable Characters in Boston, that none might have the least Ground for disputing their Original”; “WE whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the POEMS specified in the following Page” … “were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl.” Eighteen names follow. Revolutionary Spaces: “a document signed by 18 ‘up-standing’ gentlemen from the American colonies confirming that these poems were indeed written by a young African woman who was enslaved in Boston.” 345
- Her name was Phillis Wheatley. Wikipedia: she “was an American writer who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry.” 1
- At seven or eight, she was taken from Africa to Boston. Wikipedia: “Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston,” and “She was sold by a local chief to a visiting trader, who took her to Boston in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, on July 11, 1761, on the slave ship Phillis.” John Wheatley’s letter in her book: “PHILLIS was brought from Africa to America, in the Year 1761, between seven and eight Years of Age.” 13
- The family that bought her named her after the slave ship, the Phillis. Wikipedia: “The Wheatleys named her Phillis, after the ship that had transported her to North America.” National Women’s History Museum: “The first name ‘Phillis’, was derived from the ship that brought her to North America, ‘the Phillis.’” 12
- Within sixteen months, she could read the hardest parts of the Bible. John Wheatley’s letter in her book: “she, in sixteen Months Time from her Arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter Stranger before, to such a degree, as to read any, the most difficult Parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great Astonishment of all who heard her.” National Women’s History Museum: “Within sixteen months of beginning her lessons, she could read the Bible, Greek and Latin classics, and British literature.” 342
- Her poems soon made her famous. National Women’s History Museum: her 1770 elegy on George Whitefield, “dedicated to a famous English preacher, made her a household name.” 2
- But many doubted an enslaved African girl could write poetry. Wikipedia: “Many colonists found it difficult to believe that an African slave was writing ‘excellent’ poetry.” Revolutionary Spaces: “there were many who doubted that an enslaved Black woman was capable of such an accomplishment.” 15
- So eighteen of Boston’s leading men signed a statement. Poems on Various Subjects: an attestation “from the most respectable Characters in Boston,” followed by eighteen names. Revolutionary Spaces: “it is undoubtedly true that her book contains a statement from prominent town leaders vouching for her work.” 345
- Among them, the governor, and John Hancock. The signatures include “His Excellency THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Governor” and “John Hancock, Esq;”. Wikipedia: “including John Erving, Reverend Charles Chauncey, John Hancock, Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts, and his lieutenant governor Andrew Oliver.” 341
- It said she had been examined, and was qualified to write them. Poems on Various Subjects: “She has been examined by some of the best Judges, and is thought qualified to write them.” Los Angeles Review of Books: “Scholars have rightly questioned whether a group examination ever took place.” 346
- In 1773, it was printed in her book, in London. Wikipedia: the men “signed an attestation, which was included in the preface of her book of collected works: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in London in 1773,” and “The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies.” 1
- It was the first book of poetry by an African American. Wikipedia: she “is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry.” National Women’s History Museum: “Phillis Wheatley Peters is broadly recognized as the first African American and the second U.S. woman to publish a book of poetry.” U.S. Postal Service: “the first author of African descent in the American Colonies to publish a book.” 127
- She was freed soon after. Wikipedia: “Wheatley was emancipated by the Wheatleys shortly after the publication of her book of poems.” U.S. Postal Service: “Wheatley was freed from slavery in 1773.” 17
- But she died poor, at about 31, her second book never published. Wikipedia: “she developed pneumonia and died on December 5, 1784, at the age of 31”; “Wheatley-Peters died in poverty and obscurity at the age of 31”; “In 1779, Wheatley issued a proposal for a second volume of poems but was unable to publish it.” U.S. Postal Service: “Wheatley kept writing but was unable to publish a second book before her death in her early 30s.” 17
- Today, she is called the mother of African American literature. U.S. Postal Service: “the poet often praised as ‘the mother of African American literature.’” 7
Sources
- Phillis Wheatley Wikipedia
- Phillis Wheatley National Women’s History Museum
- Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (Phillis Wheatley, London, 1773) Project Gutenberg
- Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, the 1773 first edition (Boston Public Library copy) Internet Archive
- How Phillis Wheatley Might Have Obtained the Approval of Eighteen Prominent White Men of Boston to Publish Her Book of Poetry Revolutionary Spaces (Old South Meeting House)
- Examining Phillis Wheatley (Hollis Robbins) Los Angeles Review of Books
- U.S. Postal Service Commemorates the Life of Phillis Wheatley (January 29, 2026) U.S. Postal Service
Notes
The examination: the attestation is real, printed in the 1773 book and signed by eighteen men, and it says she “has been examined by some of the best Judges.” Whether a group ever questioned her in person is disputed. The Los Angeles Review of Books notes that a Boston advertisement of February 1772 already claimed a “critical examination” of the poems, but “None of us knows how Wheatley’s ‘examination’ took place”; Revolutionary Spaces says “it is unlikely Phillis Wheatley herself was interrogated,” and that “many names on the attestation are of those that are related by blood or marriage to the Wheatleys.” So the Short never says men questioned her in a room; it says only what the printed statement says, and the eighteen include her enslaver, “Mr. John Wheatley, her Master.”
How she was taken: “kidnapped and trafficked” (the National Women’s History Museum) or “sold by a local chief to a visiting trader” (Wikipedia). The Short says “taken from Africa to Boston.”
“First”: every source limits it to a book of poetry (Wikipedia: “considered”; the National Women’s History Museum: “broadly recognized”), and the U.S. Postal Service words it as “the first author of African descent in the American Colonies to publish a book.” Her age: she was born about 1753, on a date no one knows, and died on December 5, 1784; Wikipedia says 31 and the Postal Service “her early 30s,” so the Short says “about thirty-one.”
Left out: Wikipedia’s statement that she “had to defend her authorship of her poetry in court in 1772,” because no other source documents a court hearing. Left out for length: her trip to London in 1773, George Washington’s letter of 1776 praising her, her marriage to John Peters and the deaths of their children (Wikipedia: “They lost three children, who all died young”), her work as a scullery maid (Wikipedia: “Phillis became a scullery maid at a boarding house”) and the 2026 stamp (the U.S. Postal Service: “The 49th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors poet Phillis Wheatley (ca 1753-1784)”).
Pictures: Phillis Wheatley herself is in the frontispiece engraving of her 1773 book (the National Portrait Gallery’s copy), after a drawing attributed to Scipio Moorhead, the only portrait made in her lifetime. John Wheatley’s letter to the publisher, dated Boston, November 14, 1772, and the signed attestation “To the PUBLICK” are pages of the 1773 first edition, from the Boston Public Library’s copy; the open book, with the frontispiece and title page, is the first edition shown at the Old South Meeting House, photographed by Daderot in 2018. The slave ship is the 1814 print of the 1789 plan of the British ship Brooks (Royal Museums Greenwich), not the Phillis. Boston is Paul Revere’s view of British ships landing troops in 1768, seven years after she arrived, in a later hand-colored impression. Thomas Hutchinson was painted by Edward Truman in 1741, decades before he was governor (1771–74), and John Hancock by John Singleton Copley in 1765. Her letter to Obour Tanner, 1776, is in her own hand; it is not the lost second book.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
All the photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73: IV. Allegro con spirito (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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