Phillis Wheatley
First published African-American poet
Senegalese-American poet (c. 1753-1784).
Kidnapped from West Africa as a child, sold to the Wheatley family in Boston, taught to read English, Latin and Greek. Published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in 1773 — the first book of poetry ever published by an African-American author. Eighteen white Massachusetts gentlemen had to swear in print that she had actually written the poems before any London publisher would touch the manuscript.
Famous for
- Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773)
- First published African-American author
- Met with George Washington
- Neoclassical verse + abolitionist themes
In Rubicon
Phillis Wheatley is one of the historical characters you can play as in Rubicon, a trivia game where you answer in your own words and an AI judge reads what you meant. Phillis Wheatley is filed under Language & Communication, and is strongest at Language & Communication and Arts & Culture.