Join us for our first episode on Phillis Wheatley. She was an African born around 1753 and sold into slavery at a very young age. Purchased by the Wheatley family, they recognized Phillis’s potential intellectually and gave her an education alongside their children. Phillis would go on to become the first published African American to publish poetry. We discuss her first few books and poems, before we will get into her later life in part two!

Sources:

National Women’s History Museum: Phillis Wheatley: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/phillis-wheatley

Wikipedia: Phillis Wheatley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley

University of Pennsylvania Digital Library: A Celebration of Women Writers: A Poem, By PHILLIS, a Negro Girl, in BOSTON on the death of the Reverend George Whitefield: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/wheatley/whitefield/whitefield.html

Wikipedia: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poems_on_Various_Subjects,_Religious_and_Moral

Britannica: Phillis Wheatley: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phillis-Wheatley

National Archives, Founders Online: Enclosure: Poem by Phillis Wheatley, 26 October 1775: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0222-0002

National Portrait Gallery: Phillis Wheatley: Her Life, Poetry, and Legacy: https://npg.si.edu/blog/phillis-wheatley-her-life-poetry-and-legacy

Poetry Foundation: Phillis Wheatley 1753-1784: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley