Phillis Wheatley Peters, whose name was also spelled Phyllis Wheatly, was the first African-American author of a published book of poetry.
Born in West Africa in 1753, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America. She was enslaved by the Wheatley family of Boston.
The family afforded Phillis an education strongly influenced by the books of Milton, Homer, Horace, and Virgil. With the publication of Wheatley's book, Poems on Various Subjects, she "became the most famous African on the face of the earth.”
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