School's name is mispelled for 74 years....Flame-On

(5/22/03 - DALLAS) — The name of an elementary school in Dallas has been misspelled for 74 years, and members of the local school board have decided it's time to fix it.

Phyllis Wheatley Elementary School is named after the 18th-century black poet _ except that she spelled her name "Phillis" with an "i."

"We misspelled the name of a poet, and we didn't even know it," district spokesman Donald Claxton said.

As it turns out, school officials in Dallas aren't the only ones misspelling Wheatley's name. The erroneous version has found its way on the walls of buildings elsewhere, including a public school in Apopka, Fla.

Several YWCA branches, including buildings in Atlanta and St. Louis, also have been spelling it wrong, and a school in Miami already has changed the name from Phyllis to Phillis.

Dallas school officials have known about the problem for some time, but decided to set the record straight only recently. School board members have been asked to approve a resolution this month correcting the spelling.

Wheatley's book, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral," was the first published by a black in America. She was born in Africa in 1753 and was sold into slavery when she was 7. Wheatley wrote her first poem at 13.

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