Phillis Wheatley’s Subscription Notice (Boston, 1779)

On October 30, 1779, Phillis Wheatley—once enslaved in Boston, later freed—placed a subscription notice in the Boston Evening Post and General Advertiser. In the midst of the Revolutionary War’s strain, paper shortages, and economic uncertainty, she invited ordinary readers to support a new volume of poems. Rather than relying solely on elite patrons, Wheatley appealed to common households, trusting that a dispersed community might accomplish what a single benefactor could not.

Boston, a city marked by both learning and conflict, had shaped Wheatley’s unusual path. Brought from Africa as a child and purchased by the Wheatley family, she was taught to read and write, then grew into a poet whose works engaged Scripture, providence, moral duty, and the fleeting nature of earthly power. Her earlier book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), had already shown that disciplined mind and reverent voice can flourish even under affliction.

War, Printing, and a Public Act of Courage

In 1779, to publish was to take a risk. Subscription publishing required many names pledged in advance; without them, printers could not proceed. Wheatley’s projected volume never appeared for lack of subscribers, yet the notice itself stands as a public act of courage: she offered her gifts for the good of others, refusing to bury what had been entrusted to her. “Each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). Her appeal was stewardship in real time—hope expressed in ink.

Faith Refined and Witness That Endures

Wheatley’s life testified that suffering does not have the final word. She wrote as one who believed God rules over nations and souls, and that truth is not owned by the powerful. Though the subscriptions failed, her faithful labor did not. “And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). Her notice remains a quiet heroism: patience under disappointment, integrity in public speech, and a willingness to serve the Lord with whatever measure of strength He provides.