Born in West Africa and torn from her homeland as a child, Phillis Wheatley rose from enslavement to become the first African-American poet to publish a book of verse in 1773.

These poems earned her the admiration of figures like George Washington and secured her a place in literary history. Sadly, her life unfolded within a profound contradiction: celebrated for her brilliance, then freed, she would later die in poverty and obscurity at just thirty-one.

Featuring a new Foreword by author Lisa Sharon Harper, this book invites readers into Wheatley’s poetry with fresh insight, tracing the spiritual depth, moral clarity, and quiet defiance woven throughout her lines. These poems bear witness to a singular voice—one that spoke faith, intellect, and hope into a world determined to deny her humanity—and whose words continue to resonate across centuries as both literary triumph and human testimony.