Benjamin Franklin
92% Profile Match
Scipio Moorhead, 1773, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949, Open Access · Engraving 'Phillis Wheatley' by Scipio Moorhead, 1773, the frontispiece portrait of her book, lettered around the oval 'Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston'; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (accession 49.40.24, object 396463; oval sheet trimmed, 12.7 x 9.8 cm). The museum's image (3027 x 4000) was cropped to the oval print (2960 x 3750) and downscaled to 947 x 1200 with no upscaling. · Public domain: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access (isPublicDomain true; no restriction field); an engraving of 1773
poet · Early Modern
Phillis Wheatley
1753–1784
Known For
literaryculturalartistic
Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.
Trait Constellation
Key Achievements
In 1773, at about 20, she published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in London, which the Library of Congress calls the first volume of poetry by an African American.
Her 1770 elegy on the evangelist George Whitefield drew international attention and the interest of the Countess of Huntingdon, whose backing made the London edition possible.
Her volume carried a signed attestation by eighteen leading Bostonians that she wrote the poems, and anthologies credit her with a founding role in African American literature.
Moments That Reveal Them
Her owner's letter in the 1773 book says she learned English within sixteen months of arriving, that her own curiosity led her to writing, and that she wished to learn Latin; she later studied Latin and read Homer, Virgil and Ovid.
This is consistent with a self-directed appetite for learning, though the strongest wording comes from her owner's promotional letter. Curiosity
After a 1772 proposal to print her poems in Boston by subscription failed, her poems were sent to London and she sailed there in 1773; in 1779 she advertised a proposal for a second volume.
This is consistent with pursuing publication through a new route after a setback, though the sources credit her family and patrons as well. Proactive Agency
Turning Points
Her elegy for George Whitefield in 1770 brought her wide notice, and she wrote to the Countess of Huntingdon, Whitefield's patron, about it; the Countess later backed her London edition.
This is consistent with a poem that won an influential patron, though how much of the outcome was her own persuasion is not shown. Persuasiveness
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Opposite Profile
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Sources
- Phillis Wheatley (Q257911), verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-11-06): label 'Phillis Wheatley', description 'first African-American poet (1753-1784)', Korean label 필리스 휘틀리, born 8 May 1753, died 5 December 1784, citizenship United States, occupations include poet. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Massachusetts Historical Society, 'Phillis Wheatley' (African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts feature page; read in full with its list of poems and letters). CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE: author of the first known book of poetry by a Black woman, published in London in 1773; first poem printed 1767; her 1770 elegy on George Whitefield drew international attention and the interest of the Countess of Huntingdon; the debut volume was first proposed in 1772, failed, and she turned to an English publisher; she went to England in May 1773 and was freed on her return; a proposed second volume never appeared and its manuscript was lost; she married John Peters and died in 1784. Institutional history page.
- Library of Congress, 'Phillis Wheatley: A First for Verse in America' (From the Catbird Seat blog, reprinted from the Library of Congress Magazine, Jan-Feb 2018; read in full). Says the 1773 London volume, published when she was about 20, was a milestone as the first volume of poetry by an African American; describes her education with the Wheatley family, her first poem in 1767, the Countess of Huntingdon's patronage, her return to Boston and the signed testimonial of her authorship, and George Washington's letter thanking her for a poem (not scored). Library institutional text, favourable.
- Academy of American Poets, 'Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral' (book page; read in full). Her studies of Latin and of Homer, Virgil and Ovid and her admiration for Milton and Pope; the 1770 Whitefield elegy; the Countess of Huntingdon publishing the book; the attestation of eighteen prominent Bostonians; her popularity winning her freedom; the volume's style (elegies and heroic couplets); notes that she has been critiqued for not strongly advocating freedom for slaves and defends her against that critique; says an anthology credits her with a founding role in African American literature. Poetry organization page, admiring.
- Tara A. Bynum (University of Iowa), 'Phillis Wheatley Peters, A Chronology' (Society of Early Americanists PDF; read in full). Dated chronology from newspaper and archive evidence: first poem 21 December 1767; the Whitefield elegy of 1770 and her letter to the Countess of Huntingdon about it; the 1772 newspaper proposals for an American edition; the attestation signed 28 October 1772; the manuscripts sent to London on Captain Calef's ship and her own voyage in 1773; John Andrews's February 1773 letter saying she had the attestation drawn up after consulting friends; Obour Tanner helping sell the book in Newport; the 1779 proposal for a second volume; death on 5 December 1784. Scholar's compiled timeline; an independent contemporary voice (Andrews) is reported in it.
- Massachusetts Historical Society podcast 'The Object of History', 'The Letters of Phillis Wheatley' (automated transcript read in full; Peter Drummey and Tara Bynum). Discusses her early education and exposure to Pope and Milton, the failed 1772 subscription effort in Boston ('it's not entirely clear why'), the turn to London and her trip with Nathaniel Wheatley, her freedom after returning, her letters to Obour Tanner (a dozen letters at the Society, six to Tanner), and Bynum's view that she was intentional about getting the book published, 'her own agent-publicist', while also stressing her community; the transcript warns it is automated. Institutional podcast; scholars' interpretation is flagged as such.
- Review of Vincent Carretta, 'Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage' (University of Georgia Press, 2011), 'The life of Phillis Wheatley, finally!' on Commonplace (read in full). Reports that the first full-length biography reconstructs her life from tax records, letters, broadsides, newspapers and subscription lists, finds her arrival date (11 July 1761) and baptism date (18 August 1771), and shows her friendship with Obour Tanner and her husband John Peters as a hard-working shopkeeper and laborer; the review is by a literature scholar and relays the biography rather than testing it. The biography itself was not opened.
- Phillis Wheatley, 'Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral' (London: Archibald Bell, 1773; Project Gutenberg text; the preface, John Wheatley's letter and the attestation read, the poems searched only). SELF-REPORT AND PATRON TESTIMONY: her owner's letter says she learned English within sixteen months, that 'her own curiosity led her' to writing, that she wrote to the Rev. Samson Occom in 1765 and that she has 'a great inclination' to learn Latin; the publisher's note says numbers would suspect she was not the author and that he procured an attestation from respected Bostonians. Promotional front matter by her owner and publisher, to be read with that bias.
- World History Encyclopedia, 'Poems of Phillis Wheatley and Jefferson's Criticism' (read in full). COUNTER-VOICE: reports that Thomas Jefferson in Notes on the State of Virginia dismissed the compositions published under her name as below the dignity of criticism and as mimicry, quotes the scholar David Waldstreicher on why she mattered to that argument, and notes echoes of Jefferson's view in later pro-slavery writing. Popular encyclopedia article; used only as the critical-reception voice, not for trait rows.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access record for 'Phillis Wheatley' (object 396463, Scipio Moorhead, engraving, 1773, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949; read via the Met Open Access API). Portrait source record for the image used.