1753 – 1784
Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784) was an enslaved African American poet and intellectual who became the first African American and first enslaved person to publish a book of poetry in America. Her work engaged Enlightenment themes of reason, liberty, and human dignity, implicitly challenging the moral contradictions of slavery and laying groundwork for African American intellectual and philosophical tradition.
First African American and first enslaved person to publish a book of poetry in the Americas (1773)
Employed Enlightenment rhetorical frameworks to assert the intellectual and moral equality of Africans
Pioneered the use of poetry as a vehicle for proto-abolitionist and proto-humanist argument
Demonstrated the capacity of enslaved Africans for philosophical and literary expression, influencing later African American intellectual tradition