In 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral became the
first book of poetry by an African-American author to be published. At
the tender age of seven, Phillis had been brought to Massachusetts as a
slave and sold to the well-to-do Wheatley family. There, she threw
herself into education, and soon she was devouring the classics and
writing verse with whatever she had to hand - odes in chalk on the walls
of the house. Once her talent became known, there was uproar, and in
1772 she was interrogated by a panel of 'the most respectable characters
in Boston' and forced to defend the ownership of her own words, since
many believed that it was an impossible that she, an African-American
slave, could write poetry of such high quality.
As related in the 1834 memoir by an outspoken proponent of antislavery,
B.B. Thatcher, also included in this volume, the road to publication was
not straight, and while it became clear that such a volume could not be
published in America at the time, Phillis was recommended to a London
publisher, who brought out the book - albeit with an attestation as to
her authorship, as well as a 'letter from her master' and a short
preface asking the reader's indulgence. This edition includes the
attestation, the 'letter from her master' and notes from the original
publishers as an appendix, so that the twenty-first-century reader can
discover Phillis Wheatley as she should have been read - as a poet, not
property.
