BookDragon Blog

At just age 19, in the year 1773, the American slave Phillis Wheatley made her literary debut to a welcoming London audience waiting to hear from her upcoming poetry collection. Born free in Senegal, the young poet – originally named Penda Wane – was captured by slavers at age 7,  survived the inhumanely grueling journey on the slave ship Phillis (hence her new name), and arrived near death on the New Boston dock where the healthier slaves were sold.

Bought by the wealthy Susanna and John Wheatley and nurtured back to health by her new mistress and loving household slaves, Phillis proved to be a “prodigy,” especially facile with language. She was Mrs. Wheatley’s “miracle,” given a room of her own to write her fast-flowing poems which she began at age 10.

Mrs. Wheatley, recognizing her literary talents, began submitting her young slave’s poems to newspapers, which were quickly published. But in spite of her prodigious output and her frequent readings in the living rooms of New England’s elite, as a slave, she could not get a book publisher on American shores. She found temporary freedom – as well as a publisher – in London under the stewardship of the powerful Lady Huntingdon, but her heart pulled her back to Boston with news of her mistress’s failing health. Upon arrival, John Wheatley officially granted her freedom – how could an American patriot fighting for new freedom from the “slavery” imposed by the British enslave other humans, after all? – but she remained with the Wheatleys until their deaths, four years apart.

Cooper, who specializes in the history of slavery and abolition, and is herself a poet, brings to life the story of a true American pioneer who survived and thrived in spite of the most extreme circumstances. By interspersing the narrative with Wheatley’s own poems, younger readers also get a powerful literary lesson, as well. Also available by Cooper is My Name is Henry Bibb, posted below.

Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult

Published: 2009