Jupiter Hammon
Jupiter Hammon (1711-1806) was an African American poet and preacher. Born into slavery at Lloyd Manor on Long Island, New York, Hammon was educated by the Anglican Church and developed a talent for reading and writing at a young age. In 1761, his poem “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries” was published as a broadside, making Hammon the first black published author in American history. During the Revolutionary War, he composed “An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley,”...
