Phillis Wheatley

Tonight I read a few paragraphs on the poet Phillis Wheatley. I had read her poetry before and I thoroughly enjoyed it but I never pursued any in depth study. Tonight I read about her story.

From Poets.org:
"Phillis Wheatley was the first black poet in America to publish a book. She was born around 1753 in West Africa and brought to New England in 1761, where John Wheatley of Boston purchased her as a gift for his wife. Although they brought her into the household as a slave, the Wheatleys took a great interest in Phillis's education. Many biographers have pointed to her precocity; Wheatley learned to read and write English by the age of nine, and she became familiar with Latin, Greek, the Bible, and selected classics at an early age. She began writing poetry at thirteen, modeling her work on the English poets of the time, particularly John Milton, Thomas Gray, and Alexander Pope."

She was 8 years old when brought to America and "purchased as a gift for his wife". I pray that we have come far. I understand that America is the only nation on the face of the earth to have fought a war about slavery. Hundreds of thousands of people died so that we could abolish this curse.

I find it odd that slavery still exists in this world. It is a shame. Have we humans not learned anything?