Phillis Wheatley

An African-American author born in Africa and brought to the United States as a slave in 1761. Wheatley was her slave name. She was freed in the 1770s shortly after the release of her collection Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. She was the first famous black author.

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

“On Being Brought from Africa to America”

“Mercy” brought her from her “Pagan land” and taught her “benighted soul” about God and Christian redemption.

“To His Excellency General Washington”

George Washington is praised