AFRICA

Born in Senegal, Africa, she was stolen from her home and sold as a slave. In 1761, she was bought at a slave auction in Boston, Massachusettes by John and Susannah Wheatley. The original plan was for Phillis to be a private servant to Susannah. It turned out that Mary, the daughter of John and Susannah grew to love Phillis like a sister and because of this she began to teach Phillis to read and to write. The Wheatley's grew to see Phillis as a daughter rather than a slave and later adopted her and gave her their name. In a time when Blacks were considered to only be cheap labor, this proved to be not only unusual but, a blessing for Phillis.

Phillis was a quick study and later not only spoke English but also Latin and Hebrew. It was later discovered by Mary that Phillis was also a poet. Her first poem was written in 1776 in honor of the night that the people were celebrating the revision of the Stamp Act of 1776. Phillis continued to write poetry to express what she experienced and felt. Mary tried to get Phillis' poetry published and would have succeeded except that the publisher discovered that Phillis was a Negro and refused to published her poetry. Mary consulted her brother, Nathaniel to persuade some of his more affulent friends to consider publishing Phillis' poetry. Among those considered were John Irving and John Hancock. September of 1772, there was a meeting and a document signed to allow Phillis to have her poetry signed. The poems were not published but Phillis continued to write.

In 1773, Phillis moved to England in hopes that the sea air would help her incessant cough. She became a servant to the Countess of Huntington because of a poem that Phillis sent her when her husband died. The Countess was instrumental in getting Phillis' first book of poetry published in 1773. Phillis returned home to Boston in 1774 due to Susannah's illness who later died on March 3, 1774. She helped the wounded soldiers at night ( Boston was in war) unkown to her family. The constant fighting and tragedy caused Phillis to write a poem to George Washington. Wanting to give it to him personally, she snuck into the soldiers' camp to see and was told she could not see the General but Thomas Paine was instrumental in giving the poem to the General. Thomas Paine wanted to publish the poem but the General did not because of the war and not wanting to come across as a one man army but unified with his men. Paine later had the poem published along with the letter from George Washington so that the context of the poem could be appreciated without leaving out the men who fought also. It was published in the April 1776 issue of "Pennsylvania Magazine or American Monthly Museum".

Again, tragedy struck Phillis' life when Mr. Wheatley died in March of 1777. Because he was heavily in debt, Wheatley had to move out of the family house. She married a soldier named John Peters in June of the same year. Then Mary died August 24,1778. In 1779, she had a baby boy and that summer they returned to Boston even though they had left because they lost their small general store there. Her husband worked on a Atlantic vessel. During this time, Phillis tried to get a second book of poetry published, but to no avail. In 1783, she had a baby girl. In 1783, her son died. In 1784, her husband was thrown into debtor's prison. Phillis became a scrub woman for a boarding house. The unhealthy conditions lead to her death on December 5, 1784. It is believed that she had other poetry to be published but her husband, upon his release from prison, found the lady at the boarding house who had the poems and took them and they have yet to be found.

Phillis' styly was not conventional or comparable to other poets of her day. She did not try to conform to any one style nor did her thoughts fit any one style. Her poetry brought life and joy to those who read them. She did not seem to have any one particular theme but responded to life as it occurred. Though no one theme ruled her poetry, she did address death, religion. Her poetry brought pride to me as a woman and as a Black woman. I did not at first even realize that Phillis Wheatley was a woman or a Black person. Her poetry style reminds me much of myself. I liked her subtle way of addressing issues and giving to people at critical times in their lives. She seemed to be the Nightingale of Poetry. Her poems crossed racial, social, and economic barriers of her day. If anything, her poems ever so subtely brought unity in a time that did not openly believe in racial equality.

POEM FOR CLASS