USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Although she was an enslaved person, Phillis Wheatley Peters was one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1773, Phillis Wheatley accomplished something that no other woman of her status had done. When her book of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, appeared, she became the first American slave, the first person of African descent, and only the third colonial American woman to have her work published.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1778, the African-American poet Jupiter Hammon wrote an ode to Wheatley ("An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley"). His master Lloyd had temporarily moved with his slaves to Hartford, Connecticut, during the Revolutionary War.

Detailed explanation-4: -Phillis Wheatley used her poetry to fight against the inequality encouraged by slavery. Initially, her poetry was regarded as a threat to the conventional style of society. However, with time, anti-slavery proponents were beginning to use Wheatley to prove that no race was superior to another.

Detailed explanation-5: -Between 1776 and 1784, she published just four poems and died in December 1784 at just 31. Yet, in her tragically shortened life, Wheatley’s poetry left an impression on both sides of the Atlantic as a global poet of the American Revolution and one of the first prominent African-American abolitionist voices.