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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hey NFB Family and Friends,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The following is the next edition of African American history makers. Enjoy!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Phillis Wheatley (or Phyllis Wheatly), born in 1753 in West Africa), was a poet and author. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The young girl who was to become Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped and taken to Boston on a slave ship in 1761 and purchased by a tailor, John Wheatley, as a personal servant for his wife, Susanna. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>She was treated kindly in the Wheatley household, almost as a third child. The Wheatley’s soon recognized her talents and gave her privileges unusual for a slave, allowing her to learn to read and write. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In less than two years, under the tutelage of Susanna and her daughter, Phillis had mastered English; she went on to learn Greek and Latin and caused a stir among Boston scholars by translating a tale from Ovid.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Though Wheatley generally avoided the topic of slavery in her poetry, her best-known work, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (written 1768), contains a mild rebuke toward some white readers: “Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain / May be refined, and join th’ angelic train.” <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Phillis was escorted by the Wheatleys’ son to London in May 1773. That same year, her first book, <i>Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral</i>, where many of her poems first saw print, was published. Immediately causing her to become the first African-American woman to published a book (of poetry) in the United States as well as the first to make a living from her writing. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>She died December 5, 1784.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#222222'>Submitted by Jeanette<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#222222'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#222222'> <br>Peace,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#222222'>Jacki Bruce<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#222222'>Corresponding Secretary, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia<br><a href="mailto:jackibruce6@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>mailto:jackibruce6@gmail.com</span></a></span><span style='color:black'><br></span><span style='color:#222222'><a href="tel:(757)291-1789" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>tel:(757)291-1789</span></a></span><span style='color:black'><br></span><span style='color:#222222'><a href="http://www.nfb.org/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>www.nfb.org</span></a></span><span style='color:black'><br></span><span style='color:#222222'><a href="http://www.nfbv.org/" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>www.nfbv.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#222222'>Follow us on Twitter @NFBVirginia<br>Find us on Facebook @NationalFederationoftheBlindofVirginia<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#222222'>Live the life you want.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#222222'>The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>