Phillis Wheatley was the first published African American author and is widely celebrated for her immense talent and powerful poetry. However, because Wheatley was brought to the colonies at such a young age so there is little concrete knowledge known about her childhood in Gambia. One archivist, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers decided to imagine the life of Wheatley, from her birth and childhood in Gambia to her old age. Jeffers uses her own unique talent and powerful words to create poetry highlighting the extensive archival research Jeffers performed on Wheatley to create The Age of Phillis. Jeffers writes, "In the centuries after this mother and daughter are dead, someone will write about these mornings, that the mother poured a ritual for her daughter to remember"(Jeffers 11). Jeffers writes about the relationship between Phillis and her mother before they were torn about from each other, trying to translate the love felt between the two and the pain when they were separated. "The men arrive. Slave ships are anchored. The men arrive. The traders gather... The men arrive. Our names shall scatter" (Jeffers 13). 

Like many slaves, with her arrival at the colonies, she is stripped of her identity, bought by a new master and thurst into a new culture, life and world so far from what she knew before. Phillis and many other slaves were brought to the colonies on the slave-trade schooner, The Phillis, which arrived in Boston on July 11, 1761 ("Phillis Wheatley"). It is believed that Wheatley and around 100 other slaves were traded for rum and goods. The ship traveled through the Atlantic for 8 weeks and due to illness, disease and suicide, only about 75 people survived the trip. 

Wheatley describes her own experience in her well known poem, On Being Brought from Africa to America, which was published in 1773. It seems that Wheatley is very grateful for the connection she has with God and being able to learn about Christianity and understand what it means in her own life. She seems to see her kidnapping as an act from God and necessary action. "'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, taught my benighted soul to understand that there's a God, that there's a Savior too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew" (Wheatley 18). It is clear form Wheatley's words that she has a powerful connection to religion and God. As Wheatley had a very different experience from most enslaved Africans, her poems reflect the education she received and the privileges she had being able to buy her own freedom and learn to express herself.