Phillis Wheatley is someone that I have
heard of when in school as far as being told that she was a poet. She
was also the first Black woman to have a book published. Can't recall
having to read anything that she wrote. Just knew that she was Black,
a woman, and wrote. She was born in 1753 but that is a guesstimate.
There are so many things about her life before she was bought as a
slave. They think she was 7 years old when she was purchased by the
Wheatley family which is where she got her name. Yes, that is how
Black people got their names back in the day. Named after who owned
us. USA! USA! USA!
Anyhoot, she was given the name Phillis because,
I'm not kidding, that was what the ship that she was brought from
Africa was called. She was thankfully taught to read and write by the
daughter and son of the family that owned her. By the age of 12
Phillis was reading Greek and Latin. She was so good that they let
all the other slaves do the household work. She was taken to London
where she began to spread her work and by the age of 25 she was freed
from being a slave as according to the will of her now dead master.
This sounds like a story. Three months later she married and had two
children that died as infants. She continued to write even though she
could not afford to have her work published. After the imprisonment
of her husband she had to now do the work she was able to avoid while
growing up. She died at the age of 31 and hours later so did her
child. Wow. I think I know why I never heard the full story of her
life in school. This is depressing.
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