A letter signed by slave poet Phillis Wheatley was sold to a private collector.
A letter signed by slave poet Phillis Wheatley was sold to a private collector of African American literature African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. The genre traces its origins to the works of such late 18th century writers as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano, reached early high points with slave narratives and art for $253,000 by New York-based Swann Auction Galleries in November 2005, making it the highest amount paid for a letter written by an African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. , and possibly by a woman Written in 1776 to Wheatley's friend and fellow slave Obour Tanner, the two-page document spoke of the American Revolution American Revolution, 1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called the American War of Independence. . Passed down in the family of abolitionist Amasa Walker Amasa Walker was an American economist and United States Representative, and was the father of Francis Amasa Walker. He was born in Woodstock, Connecticut on May 4, 1799. He moved with his parents to North Brookfield, Massachusetts and attended the district school. , this was Wheatley's only letter to ever appear at an auction. There are 19 known others, all in institutional collections. "[There is] growing interest in collecting both African Americana and women's history," says Swarm autograph specialist Jeremy Markowitz. "No letter written by an African American has even come close to the price achieved for the Wheatley letter."
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