PHILLIS WHEATLEY (c.1753-1784)
Writer

Born in West Africa and enslaved in the affluent merchant Wheatley family of Boston. She became the first African American woman not only to publish a book but also to try to earn her living as a writer. She began publishing her neoclassical poetry in broadsides and newspapers in 1767. Her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in London in 1773. The book was sold in at least six places in London. Wheatley marketed her book through letters and in person for several years. In 1779, and again in 1784, she unsuccessfully advertised for subscriptions for a second volume of poetry to be published in Boston. Wheatley was freed from slavery by her master in 1773. She lived with her former owners until their deaths in 1774 and 1778, and then she married. In 1784, she died in poverty.