Various Subjects Religious and Moral - Phillis Wheatley published Poems (1773)

from Writer's Almanac (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor):

On September 1, 1773,  Phillis Wheatley published Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral, the first book ever published by a former American slave. She was bought by a family in Boston and they found her drawing a wall with chalk. It was clear she was trying to make letters, so the daughter of the family taught her to read. She started to write poetry and no publisher in America would publish it, so she went to London and published it there.