Jupiter Wheatley & Wells Press: Crafting narratives, inspiring minds
Welcome to Jupiter Wheatley & Wells Press, where the art of writing meets the power of publishing.
At Jupiter, Wheatley & Wells Press, we believe that stories have the power to awaken purpose, inspire possibility, and transform lives. Our name honors three pioneering figures whose courage and creativity helped lay the foundation for African American literature in America.
Our Books
The energy for Tea with Mom: Spiritual Lessons on Life and Death evolved during the 203 days Dobbins spent acting as his mother’s primary caregiver before she died of cancer in 2011. Dobbins began to realize as a caregiver that in death there is the opportunity for healing for both the patient and the caregiver. The time he spent with his mother proved to be a transformational journey of deep healing leading him through reconciliation to renewal and ultimately enlightenment. Tea with Mom begins just after his mother’s death on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Bali is where Dobbins was finally able to allow himself to grieve, to truly experience the gift of the year he spent caring for the mother who had abused and abandoned him as a child. As his mother’s son, he found he was able to recognize the sadness in her life, her internal pain. He felt her sorrow. He saw and understood with empathy and compassion how her life had descended into an abyss of unlived possibility. He saw and recognized the scars of injustice. His journey asks whether it is possible to show up in service of a loved one without healing one’s personal story. Whether it is possible to move into a deep place of unconditional loving where one’s pain subsides into the nothingness from which it arose. Throughout the book, Dobbins chronicles the various challenges he lived through and how, through caregiving, prayer, intention-setting, forgiveness, and acceptance, he was able to heal his pain and let go of aspects of his identity—his “story”—that had created limitations.
The Story Behind Jupiter, Wheatley & Wells Press
At Jupiter, Wheatley & Wells Press, we believe that stories have the power to awaken purpose, inspire possibility, and transform lives. Our name honors three pioneering figures whose courage and creativity helped lay the foundation for African American literature in America.
Jupiter Hammon: The First Voice
Born into slavery on Long Island, New York, in 1711, Jupiter Hammon became the first published African American writer in North America. His poem, An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries, published in 1761, marked the beginning of a literary tradition that would inspire generations to come. Through poetry, essays, and sermons, Hammon demonstrated that the written word could be a vehicle for faith, dignity, and human expression, even amid oppression.
Phillis Wheatley: The Poet of Possibility
More than a decade later, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a book. Kidnapped from West Africa as a child and enslaved in Boston, she received an uncommon education and went on to publish Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in 1773. Her literary brilliance challenged prevailing assumptions of her era and proved that talent, intellect, and creativity transcend circumstance. Wheatley’s work remains a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of education and imagination.
William Wells Brown: The Storyteller
Born into slavery in Kentucky in 1814, William Wells Brown escaped bondage and became one of the nineteenth century’s most influential African American writers, lecturers, and abolitionists. He is widely recognized as the author of Clotel, or The President’s Daughter (1853), the first novel published by an African American. Through fiction, memoir, and public advocacy, Brown used storytelling to illuminate injustice while affirming the humanity, aspirations, and dignity of those whose voices had long been silenced.
Our Inspiration
Together, Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Wheatley, and William Wells Brown represent the enduring power of the written word to illuminate truth, expand possibility, and foster meaningful change. Their lives remind us that literature is more than entertainment—it is a force for awakening, connection, and transformation.
Inspired by their legacy, Jupiter, Wheatley & Wells Press is dedicated to publishing works that explore purpose, meaning, personal growth, creativity, and the human experience. We seek stories and ideas that encourage readers to live with greater intention, discover their unique gifts, and contribute positively to the world around them.
Their voices opened doors.
Our mission is to help new voices walk through them.
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