Phillis Wheatley

An item at American Writers Museum

Kidnapped in West Africa, Phillis Wheatley was renamed after the ship that brought her to Boston to be sold as a slave. Her owners gave the precocious child an education, unusual at a time when enslaved African-Americans could be punished for knowing how to read.

At the age of 20, Wheatley became the first published African-American author with Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773). The acclaim she received must have been particularly sweet after enduring earlier skepticism about her ability to write. She gained her freedom in 1778 but died, impoverished, at only 31.

AMERICAN VOICES

An exhibit at American Writers Museum

American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.

This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.

American Writers Museum