Jupiter Hammon (c,1711-1806)

Jupiter Hammon is known as the founder of African - American literature. His poem An Evening Thought;Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries (EVSCPC), published in 1761, was the first by an African-American in North America. (Read copy of poem)
Born into slavery he became a devoted Christian evangelist preacher. He was also a commercial clerk on long island. New York.
He was a slave of the Lloyd family. He was born at the Lloyd Manor (now Lloyd Harbor). He served 4 generations of the Lloyd family for his entire life

Like the Lloyds family Jupiter was a fervent Christian. Aged 22 he bought a bible from his master for 7 shillings and 6 pence. His writings reflected his spirituality. I
Jupiter received rudimentary education through the Anglican Church’s Society of the Gospel in Foreign parts system. His ability to read and write aided the Lloyds in their commercial businesses and helped him exhibit a level of intellectual awareness through literature.

EVSCPC was his first published poem. Composed on 25th December, Christmas day 1760 it appeared as a 'broadside in 1761.

An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley, 18 years later, was his second work to appear in print. The dedicated poem, to a fellow black slave, contained 21 rhyming quatrains (4 lines) , each accompanied by a Biblical verse -thinking it would help her Christian journey.

On 24th September 1786, aged 76, and still a slave, Jupiter said this famous quote during his speech at the inaugural meeting of the African Society in New York City ,
If we should get to heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves.

He knew that slavery was deeply entrenched in American society and that immediate emancipation of all slaves would be difficult to achieve,

The exact year of Jupiter Hammon’s death is unknown but it is believed he died in 1806.

He ranked 327 in the top 500 poets.

Sources
All poetry
Wikipedia