Phillis Wheatley was already an accomplished poet when her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published in London in 1773. Stolen from Africa, she arrived in Boston in 1761 when she was about seven years old on the slave ship Phillis. Purchased by John and Susannah Wheatley of Boston, Phillis’s enslavers soon recognized the child’s academic and literary talents and educated her with their two children. When some questioned whether an African American, especially an enslaved young woman, could write such accomplished poetry, Governor Thomas Hutchinson, the merchant John Hancock, and other community leaders interviewed Phillis in 1772. The committee vouched for Phillis and marveled at her intellectual gifts, as she “was but a few Years since, brought an uncultivated Barbarian from Africa.”
Writing under her own name rather than anonymously or under an assumed name was also unusual for a woman in that period. The classical and religious themes in Phillis’ poems reflect her New England education and upbringing. In her poem, “On Being brought from Africa to America”, Phillis reminded her audience that although many “view our race with a scornful eye”, African Americans could also “be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.” This copy of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral bears the author’s signature.
