Phillis was born in West Africa and sold as a slave in colonial Boston.
She was called Phillis, because that was the name of the ship that brought her, and Wheatley, which was the name of the merchant who bought her. She was born in Senegal.
In Boston, the slave traders put her up for sale: “She’s 7 years old! She will be a good mare!” She was felt, naked, by many hands.
She was a literary prodigy. At thirteen, she was already writing poems in a language that was not her own. No one believed that she was the author.
At the age of twenty, Phillis was questioned by a court of eighteen enlightened men in robes and wigs. She had to recite passages from Virgil and Milton and some verses from the Bible, and she also had to vow that the poems she had composed were not copied. From a chair, she underwent her lengthy examination, until the court approved her.
Her 1773 volume Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was the first book published by an African writer in America.
She received her freedom on the death of her owner in 1778 and married. She had three children and none survived infancy. She died in poverty at age 31.
“…in every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance … the same Principle lives in us.” ~ Letter to the Reverend Samson Occom, February 11, 1774
You can listen to Phillis Wheatley’s biography read by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley at bwht.org/talking-statues.
Statue of Phillis Wheatley
A statue of Phillis Wheatley is part of the Boston Women’s Memorial. The memorial includes sculptures honoring Abigail Adams, Lucy Stone, and Phillis Wheatley, three women who helped shape the city’s history. Artist Meredith Bergmann’s sculptures display a new way of thinking about public art. Unlike larger than life statues, these invite people to interact with them. The…
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