Afro-American Women Writers, 1746-1933: An Anthology and Critical Guide.
They soon died, and she married poor grocer John Peters, lost three children, and died in poverty and obscurity at the age of 31. ==Early life== Although the date and place of her birth are not documented, scholars believe that Phillis Wheatley was born in 1753 in West Africa, most likely in present-day Gambia or Senegal.
She was sold by a local chief to a visiting trader, who took her to Boston in the British Colony of Massachusetts, on July 11, 1761, on a slave ship called The Phillis.
However, some of her poems that were to be included in the second volume were later published in pamphlets and newspapers. ==Poetry== In 1768, Wheatley wrote "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty", in which she praised King George III for repealing the Stamp Act.
As the American Revolution gained strength, Wheatley's writing turned to themes that expressed ideas of the rebellious colonists. In 1770 Wheatley wrote a poetic tribute to the evangelist George Whitefield.
Wheatley had to defend her authorship of her poetry in court in 1772.
After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent. On a 1773 trip to London with her master's son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons.
The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies.
Strongly influenced by her readings of the works of Alexander Pope, John Milton, Homer, Horace, and Virgil, Phillis began to write poetry. ==Later life== In 1773, at the age of 20, Phillis accompanied Nathaniel Wheatley to London in part for her health (she suffered from chronic asthma), but largely because Susanna believed Phillis would have a better chance of publishing her book of poems there.
(An audience with King George III was arranged, but Phillis returned to Boston before it could take place.) Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, became interested in the talented young African woman and subsidized the publication of Wheatley's volume of poems, which appeared in London in the summer of 1773.
As Hastings was ill, she and Phillis never met. After her book was published, by November 1773, the Wheatleys emancipated Phillis.
They concluded she had written the poems ascribed to her and signed an attestation, which was included in the preface of her book of collected works: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in London in 1773.
Her former enslaver Susanna died in the spring of 1774, and John in 1778.
Along with her poetry, she was able to express her thoughts, comments and concerns to others. In 1775, she sent a copy of a poem entitled "To His Excellency, George Washington" to the then-military general.
The following year, Washington invited Wheatley to visit him at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which she did in March 1776.
Thomas Paine republished the poem in the Pennsylvania Gazette in April 1776. In 1779 Wheatley issued a proposal for a second volume of poems, but was unable to publish it because she had lost her patrons after her emancipation; publication of books was often based on gaining subscriptions for guaranteed sales beforehand.
Her former enslaver Susanna died in the spring of 1774, and John in 1778.
Thomas Paine republished the poem in the Pennsylvania Gazette in April 1776. In 1779 Wheatley issued a proposal for a second volume of poems, but was unable to publish it because she had lost her patrons after her emancipation; publication of books was often based on gaining subscriptions for guaranteed sales beforehand.
1753 – December 5, 1784) was the first African-American author of a published book of poetry.
They lived in poor conditions and two of their babies died. John was improvident and was imprisoned for debt in 1784.
She died on December 5, 1784, at the age of 31.
Wheatley's memoir was earlier published in 1834 by Geo W.
The Phillis Wheatley Community Center opened in 1920 in Greenville, South Carolina, and in 1924 (spelled "Phyllis") in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On July 16, 2019, at the London site where A.
The Phillis Wheatley Community Center opened in 1920 in Greenville, South Carolina, and in 1924 (spelled "Phyllis") in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On July 16, 2019, at the London site where A.
Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, New Orleans, opened in 1954 in Tremé, one of the oldest African-American neighborhoods in the US.
Both Shields and Greenwood have argued that Wheatley's use of classical imagery and ideas was designed to deliver "subversive" messages to her educated, majority white audience, and argue for the freedom of Wheatley herself and other enslaved people. == Scholarly critique == Black literary scholars from the 1960s to the present in critiquing Wheatley's writing have noted the absence in it of her sense of identity as a black enslaved person.
Martin's, 2006: p. 1606. Barker-Benfield, Graham J.
Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 2009.
Phillis Wheatley Chooses Freedom: History, Poetry, and the Ideals of the American Revolution (NYU Press, 2018). Bassard, Katherine Clay (1999).
The Phillis Wheatley Community Center opened in 1920 in Greenville, South Carolina, and in 1924 (spelled "Phyllis") in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On July 16, 2019, at the London site where A.
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