i wondered if you could comment on how in the time phillis wheatley arrived in the americas, how unusual it was for clevelanders to teach their slaves to read and write and what motivated the wheatley's in particular to teach theirs. and how much did they call upon of intellectual community boston at that time. me how: ok, you asked many it was at that time. it certainly was not common. it was very uncommon. the reason they did was phillis 'own intelligence. when they purchased her, she was between six or seven years old. at the time she came to boston, there was a war going on. the seven-years war. that was rants and england at each other. the traffic in slavery was reduced. i would have to say that the pickings were slim at that point in terms of slaves. frails arrived as a very little girl. susanna wheatley went to the doc ks -- they purchased the slaves off the boats. she went to the docks with her husband because she wanted a little girl she could train up as partners. she knew she was getting older, she was getting weaker. her own children were going to leave at some point when the

she talks about boston's treatment of slaves, and phillis wheatley's standing in her master's householdthe boston public library and boston literary district cohosted this event. it is about 50 minutes. >> good evening. welcome to the boston public library's commonwealth salon where the presentation -- for the presentation remembering phillis wheatley by barbara lewis.