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Phillis Wheatley was brought as a slave to America. John Wheatley of Boston bought her as a present for his wife. She was going to be her maid.
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She learned to read and write at nine years old and was good at Latin, Greek, and classics. Her masters encouraged her to read and write. This was unusual for a slave, because most masters did not want their slaves to be educated.
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Phillis Wheatley was quick to learn when John and Savannah Wheatley educated her. She learned about ancient history and theology. She became part of the family while still remaining a slave.
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At thirteen, Wheatley published her first poem in the Newport Mercury Newspaper. She modeled her work after famous English poets. A lot of her poems were about religious things because she was taught about the Bible from an early age.
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She gathered attention when she wrote a poem on the preacher George Whitefield. This poem was published in major cities like New York and Philadelphia.Later, it was also published in England.
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In 1773, she accompanied Nathaniel Wheatley to England. She published thirty-nine of her poems in a book called Poems on Varius Subjects, Religious and Moral. This was the first book of poetry published by a black American.
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He read her letter and replied to her. He said he would, " be so happy to see a person so favored by the muses." She was invited to visit him in Cambridge.
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Phillis was devastated by his death and his wife's (four years earlier). When they died, she had to support herself, She worked as a seamstress and a poet.
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He owned a grocery store, but the economy was bad. The couple fought constant poverty, She gave birth to three children, but they all died in infancy.
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John Wheatley died leaving Phillis free. Historians are unsure whether she got her freedom before John Wheatley died, but she got her freedom between 1774-1778
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