Some time later, she was invited to visit George Washington in his headquarters. It was an unusual visit between a black woman poet and a military commander.
RAY FREEMAN: Phillis took care of Susannah during her long final sickness. When Mr. Wheatley died in March seventeen seventy-four, Phillis wrote that she had lost a friend and parent.
After Susannah's death, Phillis was freed by the Wheatley family. But her life became more difficult.
She married John Peters, a free black man. He failed in many business attempts. Their three children died at a very young age.
Phillis tried to publish another book of her poems. But now that she was free, she had lost her appeal as a slave poet. Phillis Wheatley died poor and alone in seventeen eighty-four. She was thirty-one years old.
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RAY FREEMAN: This Special English program was written by Vivian Bournazian. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Ray Freeman.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.
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