LEARNING TOGETHER: The Story of America
Phillis Wheatley was a published author by age 12.
Kidnapped from Africa around the age of 8, she was sold to the Wheatley family of Boston, Massachusetts. Susanna Wheatley taught Phillis to read and write. Highly intelligent, Phillis, a quick learner, immediately mastered English, Latin and Greek.
In 1773 she became the first Black female published author.
Later freed, she married, but never found a publisher for her next volume of poems.
On Being Brought from Africa to America
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
NOTEWORTHY FACT(S):
It was illegal (or discouraged) for slaves to learn to read and write.
OUR HISTORY MATTERS
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