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Hammon, Jupiter
Jupiter Hammon (October 17, 1711 – 1806) was a Black poet who became the first published Black writer in America when a poem of his appeared in print in 1760. He was a devout Christian. He is considered one of the founders of African American literature.
Hammon was a slave his whole life, owned by four generations of the Lloyd family on Long Island, New York. However, he was allowed to attend school, and thus, unlike many slaves, was able to read and write.
In 1786, Hammon gave his "Address to the Negroes of the State of New York" before the African Society. Hammon wrote the speech at age seventy-six after a lifetime of slavery, and it contains his famous words, "If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves."
The speech draws heavily on Christian motifs and theology. For example, Hammon said that Black people should maintain their high moral standards precisely because being slaves on Earth had already secured their place in heaven. Hammon's speech also promoted the idea of a gradual emancipation as a way of ending slavery. It is thought that Hammon stated this plan because he knew that slavery was so entrenched in American society that an immediate emancipation of all slaves would be difficult to achieve. The speech was later reprinted by several groups opposed to slavery.
Hammon's famous speech and his poetry are often anthologized. The first known African American to publish literature, Hammon was a favorite servant who was a clerk in the Lloyd family business, a farmhand, and an artisan. Hammon was allowed to attend school and was a fervent Christian, as were the Lloyds. His first published poem was written on Christmas Day, 1760. "An Evening Thought. Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries: Composed by Jupiter Hammon, a Negro belonging to Mr. Lloyd of Queen's Village, on Long Island, the 25th of December, 1760" appeared as a broadside in 1761. Three other poems and three sermon essays followed. In Hammon's "Address to the Negroes of New York, to the African Society," he said that while he personally had no wish to be free, he did wish others, especially “the young Negroes, were free.”
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