Hello! My name is Phillis Wheatley , and I was born in Gambia, Africa..

I became a slave girl at the age of 8.

I did not know what my future held.

I did not know my fate.

I was kidnapped , and shoved onto a slave ship named Phillis in 1761.

I did not know where I was going, nor if I could trust anyone.

At last I arrived in Boston, Massachuests.

A man bought me to be a servant for his ill wife.

As I left with him I was beginning my new life.

I met my master, and her name was Susanna Wheatly.

The Wheatly's gave me their last name, and my first came from the ship I came on.

She was very different from the other slave owners.

She took me in and taught me how to write and read.

When I learned I felt free.

Her son and daughter taught me more!

Like literature, history, and language.

I never knew so much before!

My brain was expanding and I became inspired by the world around me.

I began writing poetry, and it filled me with glee.

Word after word. Rhyme after rhyme.

I continued to learn and write in order to pass time.

I had written 28 poems at the age of 18.

My writing was becoming very keen.

I dreamed of becoming a published poet.

The problem was I had many opponents.

No publisher in America wanted to support an African American slave's writing.

But this was my dream to have my poems published, so I was going to keep on fighting.

In 1773 I wrote a book of poems.

The name of the book was Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

The Wheatlys, my owners and newfound family sailed to London in the hopes of meeting a publisher in order to make make my dream come true.

This is an actual copy of the first published book of poems I wrote!

At last! We found a publisher, and her name was Seling Hasting, the Countess of Huntingdon.

The year was 1773 and she published my poems, happily.

That moment became my legacy.

That accomplishment felt heavenly.

Today people know me for being the first African American slave to ever have her poems published.

My writing became my everything.

My life and my long lasting art work.

My writing and rhyming took me to places that I never could have imagined!

I wrote a poem about President George Washington.