Phyllis Wheatley was the first Black woman to be published in London. Her book, 'Poems on various subjects, religious and moral ' consisted of 39 poems.

She was bought as a slave in Boston Massachusetts aged seven and was immediately segregated from the other slaves and taught to read and write.  Within a couple of years she was reading the bible and by the age of thirteen she had begun to write her own poetry.

She came to England in 1773 with the son of her mistress.  While in England in she was afforded celebrity status and was introduced to high society.  Benjamin Franklin visited her (prior to becoming president), and the Lord Mayor of London presented her with an edition of Milton's 'Paradise Lost'.

Even though it can be said that she was no great poet she showed an understanding of the roles black people played in white society on both sides of the Atlantic.

She married and bore three children, but the union was an unhappy one as her husband was a debtor and was in and out of Prison.  She died aged around thirty in abject poverty.

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