Phillis Wheatley, First African American to Publishes Poetry Books
In this page, we will be exploring on the story of the colonial African American Poet, Phillis Wheatley who was a slave seized/kidnapped from her home country Senegal/Gambia, west Africa.
According to history, She was moved on July 11, 1761, on a slave ship own by Timothy Fitch, the hat is called Phillis and Captaned by Peter Gwin.
She was sold out as slave when she just 7 years old to the household of John Wheatley in Boston and with time she was very popular, especially after she published her works.
She was taught, educated to read write by the Wheatley household whom she was brought to as a slave for his wife and the family named her Phillis after the ship and adopted the Wheatley household last name.
Also read on: Bars Fight Poem, First Great Poetry by African American, Lucy Terry Prince
In no time, her works becomes popular that at the age of 18 she has already up to 28 published work.
Wheatley was among many artists who suffered and endured humiliations due to her color but she never gave up and her first tutor was Mary, the daughter of Susana teaching her how to read and write and soon with the help of John Wheatley, Phillis had an unprecedented education for an enslaved person, and one unusual for a woman of any race at the time.
When Phillis Wheatley was at the age of 12, she was already reading Greek and Latin classics in their original languages and also hard passages from the Bible.
She did well in her studies and learnt a lot that at the age of 14, she wrote her first poem “To the University of Cambridge [Now Harvard], in New England” and this caused John to further more invested in her by supporting her in her education also, letting her off on slave work and hard labour.
History has it that the Wheatley family would often exhibited Phillis’s abilities to friends and family and showed them her poetry.
Inn1773, it was known that Phillis had a trip to London with John Wheatley son, Nathaniel Wheatley and they both seek for the publication of Phillis work and there in London, she met up with many prominent people who became her patrons including having an audience with Frederick Bull, who was the Lord Mayor of London, and other prominent members of British society.
And eventually, her work was published in London on 1st September 1773, the publication of her poem was what made her popular, as the poetry hit many American and British colonies, bringing fame to her.
She was so much popular that prominent figures, such as George Washington who was first American president praised her work and an audience with King George III was arranged, but Phillis had returned to Boston before it could take place but she was love that even Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, became interested in the talented young African woman.
Also an African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in a poem of his own after a few years.
Phillis has any works and one of her famous poem is “On Being Brought from Africa to America.” where she proudly identify her origin as African and express her expression and happiness that her being a slave brought her knowledge of God. Months aftee the peon was published, the Wheatleys manumitted Phillis.
A year after the peom was published, Susanna Wheatley the wife of John died while John husband died in 4 years later in 1778. Phillis then married her husband John Peters who was an impoverished free black grocer and both had two babies.
Her husband, John Peters however in 1784 was improvident and was imprisoned for debt in 1784 and Phillis lived in por condition with a sick infant son, it lead Phillis to became a scullery maid at a boarding house where she did work she had never done before untill she died on December 5, 1784, at the age of 31 and her infant son dies soon.
Proudly written by OGE EBUBE KINGSLEY, COPYRIGHT OGE LALA BUSINESS CONCEPT 2023.
[starbox]
Click here to see more posts about 
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley
