Introduction to Jupiter Hammon by Various Authors
Jupiter Hammon (1711 – 1806)
Jupiter Hammon [1] was an American writer who is known as a founder of African-American literature, as his poem published in 1761 in New York was the first by an African American man in North America. He subsequently published both poetry and prose. In addition, he was a preacher and a commercial clerk on Long Island, New York.
Born into slavery at the Lloyd Manor on Long Island,[2][3] Hammon learned to read and write. In 1761, at nearly 50, Hammon published his first poem, “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries”. He was the first African-American poet published in North America.[2] Also a well-known and well-respected preacher and clerk-bookkeeper, he gained wide circulation for his poems about slavery. As a devoted Christian evangelist, Hammon used his biblical foundation to criticize the institution of slavery.[4]
Early life and education
The facts of Hammon’s personal life are limited. Opium and Rose, enslaved people purchased by Henry Lloyd, are believed to have been the parents of Jupiter Hammon.[4] They are the first enslaved people on record in the Lloyd Papers to serve the Lloyd family continually after their purchase.[4] Born into slavery at the Lloyd Manor (at what is now Lloyd Harbor, New York), Hammon served the Lloyd family his entire life, working under four generations of the family.[4]
The Lloyds allowed Hammon to receive a rudimentary education through the Anglican Church’s Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts system, likely in exchange for his cooperative attitude.[2][4] Hammon’s ability to read and write aided his holders in their commercial businesses; these supported institutionalized slavery.[4] It has been argued that Hammon’s goal was to take advantage of literary skills by exhibiting intellectual awareness through literature.[4] He created literature layered with metaphors and symbols, giving him a safe means to express his feelings about slavery.[4]
Literary works
“An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries” was Jupiter Hammon’s first published poem.[5] Composed on December 25, 1760, it appeared as a broadside in 1761.[5] The printing and publishing of this poem established Jupiter Hammon as the first published Black poet.[2]
Eighteen years passed before his second work appeared in print, “An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley”.[2] Hammon wrote the poem during the Revolutionary War, while Henry Lloyd had temporarily moved his household and enslaved people from Long Island to Hartford, Connecticut, to evade British forces.[4] Phillis Wheatley, then enslaved in Massachusetts, published her first book of poetry in 1773 in London. She is recognized as the first published black female author.[3] Hammon never met Wheatley but was a great admirer.[4] His dedication poem to her contained twenty-one rhyming quatrains, each accompanied by a related Bible verse.[6] Hammon believed his poe