The University of Tennessee Libraries has acquired a first edition of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley. The edition purchased by the university contains an inscription by the author.
The book was originally published in 1773. Wheatley was born in Africa and captured by slave traders at the age of 7. She was brought to Boston and sold to the Wheatley family who taught her to read and write.
Wheatley was freed from slavery in 1773 and died during childbirth in 1784. She was 31 years old.
