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Phillis Wheatley

by Elise

This stamp commemorates Phillis Wheatley. Phillis Wheatley was born in 1753, in Senegal, West Africa. Phillis was a very young child when she was sold as a slave. Phillis became Phillis Wheatley when she was sold to a merchant family, the Wheatley's. Soon the Wheatley family realized that Phillis was a gifted child. They taught her how to read and write. Not so much time passed before she wrote her first poem, she became the first African/American poet ever.