1761–1784: Phillis Wheatley was forcibly taken as a child from the Gambia region to Boston in 1761 on the slave ship Phillis, from which she derived her name.

1761–1784: Phillis Wheatley was forcibly taken as a child from the Gambia region to Boston in 1761 on the slave ship Phillis, from which she derived her name. While serving as a servant to John Wheatley, she achieved remarkable literary success that eventually allowed her to secure her freedom before the American Revolution. Wheatley became the first documented African American poet and styled herself as “Afric’s muse,” publishing her first volume of poetry in London in 1773. To commemorate her literary achievements, she commissioned Scipio Moorhead, an African American artist, to produce her portrait for the book’s frontispiece.