Jupiter Hammon

Writer and poet, born in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, USA. Little is known of his life, but it is recorded that he was born a slave, worked as a clerk for the Lloyd family, and was reportedly educated by missionaries from England. His first published poem, ‘An Evening Thought’ (1761), preceded the work of Phillis Wheatley by six years, thus earning him the distinction of being the first African-American to be published. He later moved to Hartford, CT with Joseph Lloyd when the British invaded Long Island (1776). His work was published by the Quakers and includes religious essays, sermons, and poetry. A collection of his work, America's First Negro Poet: The Complete Work of Jupiter Hammon of Long Island, was published in 1970.

Jupiter Hammon (born October 17, 1711 – died 1806?) was a Black poet and the first published Black writer in America, a poem appearing in print in 1760.

Hammon was a slave his whole life, owned by several generations of the Lloyd family on Long Island, New York.

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 quote, "If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves." 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 more difficult to achieve.

Because of Hammon's famous speech and his poetry, his writings are still anthologized.