Memoir & Poems of Phillis Wheatley: A Native African and a Slave

First published in 1834, this volume contains a collection of memoirs and poems by Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784). Wheatley was an American freed slave and poet who wrote the first book of poetry by an African-American. Sold into slavery in West Africa at the age of around seven, she was taken to North America, where she served the Wheatley family of Boston. Phillis was tutored in reading and writing by Mary, the Wheatleys' 18-year-old daughter, and was reading Latin and Greek classics fro...