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Article Index
Phillis Wheatley was born in Senegal, Africa, the daughter of a village chief. When she was eight years old, she was sold as a slave to Captain Quinn, who sailed
the schooner Phillis. When the ship docked in Boston, she was bought by John
Wheatley, a prominent merchant, to serve as a domestic. Nathaniel, the masters
son, took a fancy to Phillis, and taught her to read and write, as well as educated her in the classics. A few years later, she wrote her first poem. When she had
written a few more, they began to be printed in newspapers and were eventually published in a book, which had amazing success
in both the Colonies and England. But when the revolutionary war broke out, Phillis
found herself in trouble. Though she wrote one famous poem about George Washington,
the rest of her attempts to sell her work failed miserably. Phillis eventually
married a freeman, John Peters, but their marriage failed. Little is known about
Philliss last years, but they were most likely filled with hardship and starvation. She died in childbirth on December 5,
1778, and was buried in an unmarked grave near the Old Granary.
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