Phillis Wheatley

CTL-E-1523 · Person · writer · 1750s-1780s

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

Poet; author of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), the first published book of poetry by an African American.

The record

Also known as: Phillis Wheatley Peters, Phyllis Wheatley

Notes

Distinct from CTL-E-1259 / CTL-E-1401 (Phyllis Wheatley Club and Home venue/org namesakes).

Relationships

Phillis Wheatley corresponds with George Washington (1776) — related to
Wheatley sent a poem to George Washington in 1775; he replied on February 28, 1776, inviting her to his Cambridge headquarters. Whether the visit occurred is disputed.
Poems on Various Subjects published (1773) — related to
Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published in London on September 1, 1773.

Referenced by

James Weldon Johnson — related to → this record
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral — authored by → this record

Sources

CultureTechLens batch RELP3 research

Record CTL-E-1523 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 1 source · 4 mapped relationships · CTL research: RELP-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Cite this record

Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Phillis Wheatley (CTL-E-1523),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1523/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Phillis Wheatley (CTL-E-1523).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1523/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Phillis Wheatley (CTL-E-1523) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1523/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Phillis Wheatley (CTL-E-1523).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1523/

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

Children asleep in a kitchenette apartment, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Children at a meal, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Children playing in vacant lot in Negro section of Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941Photo: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Trust & evidence

Evidence before authority. CultureTechLens publishes its methods, its limits, and its corrections alongside its findings. Claims carry grades — VERIFIED, SUPPORTED, PROVISIONAL, DISPUTED, UNRESOLVED — and unknowns are never reported as zero.

Every claim graded. Every source named. Every correction public — see the corrections log.