Phillis Wheatley African-born Phillis became the slave of John Wheatley in Boston at age seven. Remarkably gifted in English, she read the Bible and learned to write elegant poetry and essays. She traveled to London in 1773 and published a book of poems, gaining notice in British literary circles. Once freed, she briefly married and then worked in a Boston boarding house. She died in 1784. ©Corbis.