Phillis Wheatley

The Wheatley Middle School is named after Phillis Wheatley (c.1753-1784), one of the earliest African-American poets. She was kidnapped in Africa when she was seven years old and brought to Boston.

In June and July 1776, Abigail Adams moved her household to Boston for two months to State Street (then called King Street) to the home of her uncle Isaac Smith so that...

Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753-84) lived at the corner of King Street and Mackerel Lane, witnessing revolutionary actions that inspired her poetry.

Old South Meeting House was saved by women, including Mary Tileston Hemenway (1820-1894). Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), the first published African American poet, was a member.

Elizabeth Murray (1726-1785) ran a business next to the State House. Abigail Adams (1744-1818) witnessed the Declaration of Independence reading at the Old State House in 1776.

Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753-84), the first published African American woman poet in America, landed in 1761 at Avery’s Wharf, near present-day Tyler Street.