“To S.M., A Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works”
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In “To S.M., A Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works” (1770), Phillis Wheatley describes her feelings upon seeing paintings by African American artist Scipio Moorhead. African-born, Wheatley became a slave at the age of eight and was taught to read and write by the Boston family who bought her. She is generally recognized as the first important black poet in America. This excerpt is recited by an actor.