One of the first things she did was to talk to Robert Calef, the captain of a ship that was preparing to sail to London. She asked him to try to find a publisher there who would print my book.

He found an obscure printer of religious works named Archibald Bell who was impressed with my poems. However, did not think that a black slave had written them, and wanted proof.

When he brought this information back to Mrs. Wheatley she went to work.