Wheatley is the first black woman known to have published a book in the United States. Her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) was used as an example of the power of education by proponents of egalitarian and abolitionist aims, who emphasized Wheatley's command of Western literature and classical mythology as well as the religious expression strongly evident in her poetry. Wheatley's talent came to the attention of political and cultural leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, and she once corresponded with George Washington. Although her reputation as a poet has sometimes been disparaged and her literary skills challenged, most modern assessments recognize Wheatley's accomplishments as typical of the best poetry of her age.

Biographical Information

Believed to have been born in West Africa circa 1753 (possibly in present-day Senegal or Gambia), Wheatley was purchased when she was about seven years old at a slave auction in...