Phillis Wheatley (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
Biography
Born in western Africa, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped by slave traders in 1761 when she was about seven years old. Named for the Phillis, the slave ship on which she was transported, the child was taken to Boston and put up for sale. Susannah Wheatley, wife of prosperous Boston tailor John Wheatley, picked out the child, and her husband bought her as a servant for his wife. As customary, the slave girl took the surname of her new owners.
The African girl spoke no English, but her intelligence was obvious to the Wheatleys, and they educated her,...
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See Also:
Liberty and Peace (Poetry)On Being Brought from Africa to America (Poetry)Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (Women’s Literature)Poetry of Wheatley, The (African American Literature)Poetry of Phillis Wheatley (Identities and Issues)African American Poetry (Topical Overview--Poetry)Explicating Poetry (Topical Overview--Poetry)