by a young woman named phyllis wheatley, the first published african-american poet in american history. phyllis wheatley had been enslaved off the west coast of africa, probably in gambia or senegal, and brought to the new world in the 1750's at 8 years old. she eventually was sold to a family by the name of wheatley in massachusetts. the daughter taught her to read and write. she had a real natural talent for writing verse. and, of course, at the time, this was an extraordinary development. so much so, that there were -- she began publishing pieces in the newspaper and they begin to be circulated. there was a trial held in boston where people like john hancock and other figures in the community were brought together to basically put her on trial, ask her questions to try to determine if it was possible that this african-american woman could have written poetry like this. of course, she passed. and they actually wrote a testimonial saying that they believed that she, in fact, had been the talented writer who produced this poetry. and so, in 1773, she traveled to london and this volume

this is a volume of poems published in london in 1773 by a young woman named phyllis wheatley, who is the first published african-american poet in american history. phyllis wheatley had been enslaved in the west coast of africa, probably in gambia or senegal, and brought to the new world in the 1750's, as a young girl, maybe eight years old. she eventually was sold to a family by the name of wheatley in massachusetts, and the daughter in the family taught her to read and write, and she had a real natural talent for writing verse. of course, at the time, this was an extraordinarily -- extraordinary development so much so that there were those -- she began publishing pieces in the newspaper, and they began to be circulated. there was actually a trial held in boston where people like john hancock and other significant figures in the community were brought together to basically put her on trial, ask her questions to try to determine if it was possible that this african-american woman could have written poetry like this. of course she passed and they actually wrote a testimonial saying tha