Although she was an African slave, Phillis Wheatley was one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America. _____ Wheatley was seized from Senegal/Gambia, West Africa, when she was about seven years old. ______ By the time she was 18, Wheatley had gathered a collection of 28 poems for which she, with the help of Mrs. Wheatley, ran advertisements for subscribers in Boston newspapers in February 1772. When the colonists were apparently unwilling to support literature by an African, she and the Wheatleys turned in frustration to London for a publisher. Wheatley had forwarded the Whitefield poem to Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, to whom Whitefield had been chaplain. A wealthy supporter of evangelical and abolitionist causes, the countess instructed bookseller Archibald Bell to begin correspondence with Wheatley in preparation for the book. Please continue the powerful story at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley #philliswheatley #poet #bestknown #pre19thcentury #america #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory365 @brownstonersbedstuyhousetour https://www.instagram.com/p/B8zE5w3FZU5/?igshid=1kzs0q6m5bj03