When did phillis wheatley marry john peters?

Answer 1

John Peters was an opportunistic. Wheatley had to marry him after her Master and Mistress died in 1778. Having been sheltered all of her life, she naively believed that getting married to a free Black man as a newly freed Black woman would grant her future successes in her career. That was not true,and could not be, the case. His business ventures failed and they soon had literally no money. Phillis tried to write to get another book published, but The Revolutionary War was roaring, her fair weather friends were gone and no one cared to assist her. Ironically, the "slavery" status she had under her caring Anglo-American family gave her far more support, honor and creative freedom than anything her married life did with her selfish, no good, denigrating Black husband. Two children were born and died in infancy. In 1784, Peters was imprisoned because of debts he owed in his failed grocery store business, and just like many Black women after her, she was left abandoned by her own man. Destitute, she resorted to scullery maid's work in a cold boarding house at the edge of Boston. She was not used to such physical work, as she was a skilled artistic writer with a delicate body build. It must have broken her heart to realize what slavery really was all about; what most Black women endured every day. Pregnant with her third child, her health failed her, and by December's cold, she had developed pneumonia. She gave birth in difficulty in that cold room with no one around who loved her- and due to postnatal infections, she died the same day the baby (a girl) was born. It was December 5th, 1784. Three and a half hours later, the baby died too. Three days later they were buried together in an unmarked grave. After Peters was released from jail, he continued thinking of no one except himself. He sold all of his wife's written manuscripts in order to pay off his debts. It was the best thing he ever did for his wife- since the collector involved was able to protect her works for posterity. However, the poems she struggled to assemble for her planned second book, were never found. This doesn't mean that they no longer exist. It just means that the collectors are keeping their mouths shut about their whereabouts. Peters eventually died, somewhere- either in jail, or in a hospital, or done in by angry townspeople for dissipating their money. He remained a lowlife. His grave sight has never been sighted, either. So be it. Of all the expected elements that could have destroyed an exceptional 17th Century Black girl from Senegal, not slavery, or the Wheatley Family- or anybody White- were ever responsible. Ironically, it was the abandonment that came with the death of her owners, a paper that legalistically proclaimed her "Freedom", and the misdeeds of the ultimate nemesis of the Black woman, the Black man, himself.

Answer 2

Ya Phillis Wheatly did marryJohn Peters! How did you know, silly? She died at the age of 31. She had three children who all died young. Phillis wheatky did not have an easy life!

Answer 3

Phillis Wheatley married John Peters, a free black grocer, in 1778, three months after she was freed from slavery by her master's will.

Answer 4

April 1st, 1778