Phillis Wheatley, America’s first black poet

For Black History Month, we are updating our pages on the African American poets whose lives & poems have played an important role in US history. The first is Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753 - 1784), who was brought to America as a slave, taught to read & write by the Wheatley family, and became the first black poet published in the US.

Related resources: Our library of 18th century poets