Phillis Wheatley (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
Although other African Americans published individual poems before her, Phillis Wheatley is often regarded as the first African American poet. In 1773 she became the first black American to publish a book of poetry: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.
Wheatley was born on the west coast of Africa, probably in 1753. At age seven or eight, she was kidnapped from her parents’ home, sold to slave traders, and brought to America. John Wheatley, a prosperous tailor, and his wife, Susannah, purchased the slave girl at a Boston slave market in 1761 and gave her the...
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