Whom does gates call the “midwife of african american literature”?
bradstreet
franklin
jefferson
wheatley

Gates calls Wheatley or Phillis Wheatley as the "midwife of African American literature." She was a slave who was the first person to publish an African-American Female poem. She worked for the Wheatley family in Boston. These people were an influence to her reading and writing skills, in fact, they were the ones who encouraged her to pursue poetry writing because of her natural talent.