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1753 - Phillis Wheatly born this year in West Africa. She is the first black woman poet of note in the United States.
1761 - The young girl who was to become Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped and taken to Boston on a slave ship and purchased by a tailor, John Wheatley, as a personal servant for his wife.
1763 - Under the tutelage of Mrs. Wheatley and her daughter, She had mastered English; she went on to learn Greek and Latin and caused a stir among Boston scholars by translating a tale from Ovid.
1767 - At age 14 she wrote exceptionally mature, if conventional, poetry that was largely concerned with morality and piety.
1770 - Her better-known pieces include “To the University of Cambridge in New England,” “To the King's Most Excellent Majesty,” “On the Death of Rev. Dr. Sewall,” and “An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine. George Whitefield,” the last of which was the first of her poems was published.
1773 - She was escorted by Mr. Wheatley's son to London in, and there her first book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published. Her personal qualities, even more than her literary talent, contributed to her great social success in London.
1778 - She married John Peters, an intelligent but irresponsible free black man who eventually abandoned her. At the end of her life she was working as a servant, and she died in poverty.
1834 - 1864 - Her two books issued posthumously were Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley and Letters of Phillis Wheatley, the Negro Slave-Poet of Boston.
1784 - Died on the 5th of December in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
1761 - The young girl who was to become Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped and taken to Boston on a slave ship and purchased by a tailor, John Wheatley, as a personal servant for his wife.
1763 - Under the tutelage of Mrs. Wheatley and her daughter, She had mastered English; she went on to learn Greek and Latin and caused a stir among Boston scholars by translating a tale from Ovid.
1767 - At age 14 she wrote exceptionally mature, if conventional, poetry that was largely concerned with morality and piety.
1770 - Her better-known pieces include “To the University of Cambridge in New England,” “To the King's Most Excellent Majesty,” “On the Death of Rev. Dr. Sewall,” and “An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine. George Whitefield,” the last of which was the first of her poems was published.
1773 - She was escorted by Mr. Wheatley's son to London in, and there her first book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published. Her personal qualities, even more than her literary talent, contributed to her great social success in London.
1778 - She married John Peters, an intelligent but irresponsible free black man who eventually abandoned her. At the end of her life she was working as a servant, and she died in poverty.
1834 - 1864 - Her two books issued posthumously were Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley and Letters of Phillis Wheatley, the Negro Slave-Poet of Boston.
1784 - Died on the 5th of December in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
  | Page last updated: 1:38pm, 05th Apr '07 |
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Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley (Great Episodes) by Ann Rinaldi (Paperback - Mar 1, 2005) Kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold as a slave in 1761, Phillis Wheatley--as she comes to be known--stuns her adopted country by becoming America's first published black poet.Includes a...  Usually ships in 24 hours |
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Phillis Wheatley, Complete Writings by Phillis Wheatley (Paperback - Feb 1, 2001) In 1761, a young girl arrived in Boston on a slave ship, sold to the Wheatley family, and given the name Phillis Wheatley. Struck by Phillis' extraordinary precociousness, the Wheatleys provided her...  Usually ships in 24 hours |
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The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Encounters with the Founding Fathers by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Hardcover - Apr 9, 2003) The slave Phillis Wheatley literally wrote her way to freedom when, in 1773, she became the first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in the English language. The toast of London,... Usually ships in 24 hours |
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The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley (Schomburg Library of Nineteenth Century Black Women Writers) by Phillis Wheatley (Paperback - Dec 14, 1989) The past two decades have seen a dramatic resurgence of interest in black women writers, as authors such as Alice Walker and Toni Morrison have come to dominate the larger Afro-American literary... Usually ships in 24 hours |
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Phillis Wheatley: A Bio-Bibliography (A Reference publication in Afro-American studies) by William Henry Robinson (Hardcover - Mar 9, 1981) |
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Phillis Wheatley: Young Revolutionary Poet (Young Patriots series) by Kathryn Kilby Borland and Helen Ross Speicher (Paperback - May 1, 2005) Phillis Wheatley's rise from slavery to recognition as the foremost African American poet in the American colonies is featured in this volume of the Young Patriots series. Focusing on Phillis's early... Usually ships in 24 hours |
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