📚✨ Phillis Wheatley’s journey from the shores of Senegal to the pages of American literature is a story of remarkable talent and indomitable spirit. Captured and brought to America on a ship named Phillis, and later named after the merchant family Wheatley who purchased her, she transcended the bounds of slavery through the power of her words.
By the age of thirteen, Phillis was already crafting poems in English—a language foreign to her—challenging the perceptions of her time. Her skills were so profound that at twenty, she found herself defending her authorship before a court of eighteen skeptical gentlemen. They questioned her extensively, demanding recitations of Virgil, Milton, and the Bible to prove her literary abilities.
Ultimately, Phillis Wheatley emerged victorious, recognized not only as a legitimate poet but also as the first African-American author to publish a book in the United States. Her work continues to inspire, a testament to her genius and resilience.
