In today’s moment in Women's History, we will highlight Phillis Wheatley, born around 1753 in West Africa…likely present-day Senegal or Gambia and died December 5, 1784, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Torn from her homeland at about age seven, she arrived in Boston on a slave ship in 1761, frail and frightened. The Wheatley family purchased her and, remarkably, gave her an education in literature, Latin, and the Bible.
By her early teens she was writing poetry. At fourteen her first poem appeared in a newspaper. In 1773, while still enslaved, she published ‘Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral’ in London, becoming the first African American and only the third American woman to publish a book of poetry. Her elegant verses on faith, freedom, and classical themes astonished many who doubted an enslaved Black woman could possess such talent.
She was manumitted shortly after her book’s release and later married a free Black man, John Peters. Her life after freedom brought hardship, yet her words endured.
Fun fact: In 1776 she sent a poem to George Washington, who invited her to visit him at his Cambridge headquarters.
Her story reminds us how brilliance can bloom even in the darkest soil.
Remember…Education is FREEdom of mind and never should be colorblind.
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