Hang a Thousand Trees With Ribbons tells the story of Phillis Wheatley, a young woman who was kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold into slavery to a Boston family in 1761. She has an eager mind and it leads her on an unusual path for a slave-- she becomes America's first published black poet. Despite her great achievement, Phillis is troubled with her way of life. All of her success does nothing to change the fact that she is still a slave.