On September 1, 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley was published in London. The collection is widely recognized as the first book of poetry published by an African American woman and represents a landmark in American literary history.
Wheatley had been enslaved in Boston after being brought from West Africa as a child. In the Wheatley household, she received an extraordinary education in English, classical literature, history, religion, and poetry—an education denied to nearly all enslaved people.
Her poems displayed technical control, intellectual range, and engagement with the religious and political language of her era. Yet racism shaped every stage of her path to publication. Unable to secure publication in the colonies, Wheatley’s supporters arranged for the book to be published in Britain.
Before publication, Wheatley was required to prove her authorship before a panel of 18 prominent Boston men—including Governor Thomas Hutchinson and John Hancock—who examined her on classical literature, theology, and language. Their signed attestation was printed in the front of the London edition, a stark reminder of the racial prejudice she had to overcome.
