Wheatley, Moorhead, and Marshall, Intersections of Art and Poetry

Image 1: Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, 1773, attributed to Scipio Moorhead 

Image 2: Phillis Wheatley-Peters (1753 – 1784) African Poet in America, 2022, by Kerry James Marshall 

Image 3: US Postal Service Phills Wheatley Black Heritage Series, 2026

In 1773, a drawing, attributed to artist Scipio Moorhead, was produced of poet Phillis Wheatley, and an engraving of the image was produced in London and appeared as the frontispiece for Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773). 

At the time of the drawing, both Moorhead and Wheatley were enslaved. The frontispiece image included the words, "Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston.”

In 2022, Kerry James Marshall produced an image that was a take on the Wheatley engraving and the drawing attributed to Moorhead. Marshall's image an older Wheatley, and she is facing forward. The words above the image read, “Phillis Wheatley-Peters (1753 – 1784) African Poet in America.”

The Peters refers to Wheatley's married named. Today, some scholars refer to her as Phillis Peters, while some use Phillis Wheatley-Peters, while still others retain simply Phillis Wheatley. 

On January 29, 2026, the US Postal Service, as the 49th installment in their Black Heritage series, released a Phillis Wheatley stamp derived from Marshall's painting.