by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
For National Poetry Month, we are pleased to highlight this volume of poetry written about Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Award-winning poet Jeffers spent fifteen years researching Wheatley’s life from her birth in West Africa, to the slavers who captured her, to life in Boston with her white owners and to her husband, John Peters, and finally to her death at age 31. Jeffers turns her findings into poetry, presenting a true account of an astonishing life in elegant verse. And Jeffers’s book may inspire you to read The Poems of Phillis Wheatley.
See the Jones Library Antiracism Book List for recommended titles for all ages