.Biographical ·1nformation
Card
,Name: Phillis Wheatley
Date of Birth: 1753
Date of Death: December 5, 1784
•
Phillis was captured in Africa and arrived in Boston as a slaye on July 11, 1761 when she was seven.
41
She was sold to the Wheatley family and was named for the slave ship she arrived on.
•
Mary Wheatley,
a daughter of the Wheatley family, taught Phillis how to read and write.
In sixteen
months, Phillis could speak, read, and write English.
•
Phillis Wheatley loved poetry and wrote many poems, some to very important people.
•
She was treated better than other slaves because most slave~::could not read or write.
•
Her first published poem was Mercury on December 21, 1767.
•
She wrote a poem to George Washington which he greatly «=!ppreciated. He asked her to visit him.
o
Since she was .a slave, no
on~in
the colonies would publish her books.
She sent her book to England
and it was published there.
$ .Many people did not believe she wrote the poems so a group of men asked her questions.
these men was John Hancock.
Among
She proved, through her answers, that she did write her poems!
•
Phillis went to England to see her published book and because the sea air was good for her asthma.
•
She met many famous people in England, including King George III.
•
Her book was called Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral and had a picture of her on the
front to show she was an African American.
•
Once she came back from England, she was declared free.
•
In 1778, Phillis married John Peters.
•
Phillis's three children all died when they were pulled into poverty.
•
John abandoned Phillis. No one knows where he went. Some think he went to debtor's prison.
•
Phillis was so poor she could not print anymore books.
•
Phillis died in 1784 when she was 31.
•
An Interesting Fact: One of Phillis's poems was found in 1998 and sold for $70,000!. Another interesting
fact is Phillis Wheatley wro~e a lot of her poems about the deaths of people.
Student name:
•
Action Card
Phillis Wheatley,
the first African American women to get a book published in the colonies, was an
amazing poet. After being captured and brought to America on a slave ship, Phillis learned how to read, write
and speak English in sixteen months at the age of seven! This was highly unusual for a slave to know how to
do this, especially at such a young age.
writing.
This gave Phillis the basic skills to write poems, her favorite type of
When Phillis was a young woman, she published a book of her poetry in England because no one in
the colonies would publish an African American's work.
proved that women and African Americans
(including John Hancock) questioned
This established
Phillis's reputation as an author and
could write well like white men did.
if Phillis had really written her poetry.
succe,ssfully answered the questions of her doubters.
In fact, many white men
She was vindicated when she
Phillis wrote many poems to famous people and even
one to the King of EngJand. He asked for her to visit and soon she was known through more than one country.
Wh~11 Phillis came back from England, she was -set free and she married -John Peters.
w~<?all died and John left her as well.
I\~heatley
They had three kids
Phillis soon could not care for herself and died at only 31. Despite her
did what few thought was possible and became an accomplished poet in history:
Character Card
Strength,
intelligence,
Wheatley's character.
bravery, - kindness,
and imaginativeness
In the last part of her life, Phillis demonstrated
three children's deaths, her husband leaving her, and being poor.
were
all important
parts of Phillis
her strength when she struggled with her
Additionally,
on the slave ship to Boston
Phillis did not give up and die when many others did. Phillis was obviously intelligent because she learned how
to read, write and speak the EngliSh language at an early age.
answeredthe
many questions
Also, after she published her poetry, she,
people asked her when" they doubted her.
difficult early years when she was kidnapped and left her family in Africa.
Courage took Phillis through her
Furthermore, when others might have.
given up when she couldn't get her book published in the colonies, Phillis had the courage to keep trying and
she eventually went to England to get her poems published.
Even after she was freed from slavery, Phillis
showed her great kindness by taking care of the Wheatleys, her former masters, when they were sick. Finally,
Phillis was full of imagination because as a poet you need a lot of imagination and with it, she wrote superior
-poems. Each of these traits helped form Phillis Wheatley's extraordinary character and enabled her to make an
historic-mark on the world Jrom,sucha,difficult
life .
•
Influence Card
Phillis Wheatley was an early role model for slaves through her published poetry and learning.
Additionally, she was an example for women and African Americans.
Many people followed in her footsteps as
a writer. Soon she was not the only African American woman writer but one of many. Phillis's influence was
most likely not just on women and African Americans, however.
Perhaps after Phillis Wheatley's book was
published, some of the white men who didn't believe she could have written it may have changed their thoughts
on the abilities of others different than themselves.
After all, many white men believed Africans were an inferior
species of human life but Phi!'is demonstrated that she had many of the same talents as some of them. I
believe she was also probably an influence for famous civil rights leaders such as Susan B. Anthony and Martin
Luther King, Jr. As one of the earliest examples for the equality of abilities, Phillis made an impact on our
community that exists still today. Although she never spoke about civil rights (that we know of), through her
actions Phillis showed that people should be judged on their abilities and not their sex or skin color. Less than
50 years after she died, books were beginning to be published about Phillis, which demonstrates the influence
she had on other writers.
I know of at least one sixth ,grader who.has been influenced by Phillis!
Bibliography Card
Moriarty, J.T. Phillis Wheatley African American Poet. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2004.
Laskey, Kathryn. A Voice ofRer Own. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2003.
Weidt, Maryann N. Revolutionary Poet. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 1997.
Jackson, Garnet N. Phillis Wheatley Poet. Cleveland, Ohio: Modem Curriculum Press, 1993.
---
•