Phillis Wheatley

She is the first African American to publish a *book* of poetry—*Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral* was released in London in 1773. While individual poems by Black writers had been printed earlier, there had never been a full collection. This distinction is significant: producing a book meant securing funding, finding a publisher, and reaching a transatlantic audience ready to purchase it.

The publisher and the Boston establishment had to convince skeptics who couldn't accept that an enslaved Black woman could write sophisticated poetry. In 1772, eighteen prominent men, including John Hancock and the governor of Massachusetts, interrogated her to verify her authorship. They signed an attestation that was printed at the front of the book. This document is remarkable: it not only proves her talent but also highlights the challenges she faced.

Sometimes directly, but more often indirectly. She wrote about her journey from Africa to America in ways that reshape the Christian narrative of salvation to include her own experiences. The poem 'On Being Brought from Africa to America' is the most frequently analyzed example — it consists of just eight lines, yet those lines carry significant weight regarding race and redemption, sparking ongoing debates among readers.

It never showed up. In 1779, she sent out a proposal that included more than thirty poems and thirteen letters, but she couldn’t gather enough subscribers to make publication possible. The manuscript has never been located. Considering the quality of her work under such challenging circumstances, the loss of that missing collection stands out as one of the true tragedies of American literary history.

In late 1775, she sent him a poem that praised his leadership of the Continental Army. Washington responded, apologized for the delay, called the poem elegant, and invited her to visit him at his headquarters in Cambridge. She made the visit in early 1776. It's a strange and intriguing moment — an enslaved-turned-free Black poet meeting the future first president over a complimentary ode.

She primarily wrote in the neoclassical style that was prevalent in 18th-century English poetry — using heroic couplets, formal language, and allusions to Greek and Roman figures, as well as crafting elegies for the deceased. Her biggest influence was Alexander Pope. Critics have occasionally viewed this as mere imitation or conformity. However, a more insightful interpretation is that she adopted the most esteemed literary form of her time and repurposed it to express ideas that it was never intended to convey.

She passed away in December 1784 in Boston, around the age of thirty-one. At the time, she was struggling with poverty while working in a boarding house and suffering from poor health. Tragically, her third infant child also died that same day. She was laid to rest in an unmarked grave.