Phillis Wheatley: Pioneer African American Poet

Phillis Wheatley was about seven years old when kidnapped and sold to slave traders. She endured the horrifying journey to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1761. In her owners’ home, she learned to read and write English and began to compose poetry. Due to racism in the North American colonies at the time, an English agent published her book in Great Britain. Wheatley became the first Black poet in America. She proved that Africans or Black people have creative abilities and opened the door for the acceptance of literary works by people of African descent. Today, buildings, societies, and clubs are named in Wheatley?s honor.

About the Author

Letitia deGraft Okyere was inspired in 2016 to research the Third Republic of Ghana, a forgotten period in the history of the nation. The outcome was the novel, The First Vice President: A Biography J.W.S. de Graft-Johnson, published by MacSwain in 2022. Letitia extended her appreciation of historical personalities and the contributions each made to his (or her) world by writing children?s historical biographies of people of African descent. She published El?ni of Ethiopia: The Wise Empress, King Ghartey IV: Innovative 19th Century Merchant, and Phillis Wheatley: Pioneer African American Poet in 2021 through Lion?s Historian Press. Letitia, a proud alumna of the University of Leeds, U.K., continues to search the annals of life for stirring stories of men and women of the past. Letitia lives with her family in Arkansas, the Natural State of the U.S.A., where she works as a public health administrator in state government.

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