Jupiter Hammon
Jupiter Hammon 1711 - 1806
Jupiter Hammon was the first Black published poet in North America. Hammon’s poem entitled “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries” was featured as a broadside in 1761. The broadside, a single-sided printed sheet of poster-sized paper, was the popular media for this time and was commonly used to spread information before mass newspaper availability.
Born into slavery, Hammon spent his entire life owned first by Henry Lloyd of the Lloyd Manor in New York and later by Lloyd’s son Joseph after his father’s death. Henry Lloyd facilitated Hammon’s education, permitting him to be educated with Lloyd’s children. Because he was educated, Hammon later worked as a clerk for the Lloyd family business.
Hammon evangelized to the other enslaved men and women on the Lloyd estate as a pietistic Christian. He became a Black community leader and attended Abolitionist Society meetings. It was in his role of preacher that he delivered his most notorious sermon, “Address to the Negroes of the State of New York” to the African Society of New York City. Hammon is considered to be a religious poet, and his work is full of metaphors and Biblical symbols criticizing the entire institution of slavery.
Hammon was a true admirer of Phillis Wheatley, who also published poetry as an enslaved woman. Although the two never met, Hammon’s second published work, “An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley was written and dedicated to her. In totality, Hammon’s published pieces number eight: four poems and four prose. His work reflects his strong religious beliefs and is woven throughout his writing. He encouraged Black people to retain their high moral standards because “being slaves on Earth had already secured their place in Heaven.”
An official date of death was not ever recorded for Jupiter Hammon, but he is believed to be buried in an unmarked area somewhere on the Lloyd family estate.
