Early life
I’m going to tell you about the early life of phillis Wheatley and how she became the one she is
Today. In the summer of 1761 a ship named the phillis arrived in boson. A small and fragile girl
No more than eight years old stood shivering at the dock. Sickness and fear consumed her
Trembling body which she attempted to cover with an old piece of carpet. Kidnapped from africa
And sold into slavery philia was named for the slave ship on which she was brought to America.
Her birthplace is unknown but research has placed the point of her capture on the west coast of
Africa the present day nations of Senegal and Gambia. How frightening it much have been for
Phillis first to be torn away from her family and village and then to endure the cruel
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Phillis became a source of great pride to the Wheatley family
And they began to invite prominent Bostonians to meet and hear her. Among those invited was
Eunice Fitch wife of the merchant upon whose slave ship Phillis had arrived in America.
Governor Thomas Hutchins and legislator John Hancock gave the aspiring young artist books to
Encourage her. In 1773 Nathaniel Wheatley had cause to travel to England on business. The
Family decided that Phillis Wheatley would accompany him on the trip. They had a special
Reason. American printers had refused to publish the writings of a slave girl so Nathaniel
Wheatley took Phillis to London to publish her book. She gave birth to 3 children her third son
Died in 1748.she died soon after on December 7, 1784. Although Phillis Wheatley’s five books
Were ignored for years after her death and often dismissed as being too sentimental and patriotic
Today her work is given the special honor it deserves. Indeed a debt of gratitude is owed this
Early American poet for her discipline and determination with the site of her grave unknown the
City of Boston honored her some two hundred years after death by erecting a monument in her