Phillis Wheatley was the first African-American poet to publish a book in 1773. She was born in West Africa, sold into slavery while still a child, and ended up in Boston, sold to the Wheatley family. The Wheatleys taught her to read and write, and encouraged her to write poetry

Many did not believe that she wrote the book, so Wheatley had to defend herself in court and was also interviewed by authorities and clergy, who concluded that she did indeed write her book of poetry, called Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

The Wheatleys freed her from slavery around the time she wrote the book, but she only lived for about a decade after that. She died in 1784.

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