Thank you Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld for creating this beautiful tribute to Black Poets Day.
And thank you to Zaneta Varnado Johns for her extensive research about Jupiter Hammon. He's the first person known to establish Black Poetry.
See all the video tributes here
It is in his honor that his tribute will be the first of several video tributes to Black Poets on Black Poetry Day, October 17, Jupiter Hammon's birthday. Please like and share this video with others.
Let's spread the news about the joys of Black Poetry Day! Garden of Neuro Institute Jupiter Hammon, 1st Black poet published in the United States Born October 17, 1711, in Long Island, New York #BlackPoetryDay was established to commemorate the birth of Jupiter Hammon and to celebrate the contributions of Black poets.
Hammon was a respected preacher and bookkeeper. He used his spiritual foundation and metaphors to criticize the institution and ills of slavery. From the Poetry Foundation: Jupiter Hammon, the first published African American poet, was born into slavery at Henry Lloyd’s estate on Lloyd Neck, Long Island, New York. Hammon was purportedly allowed access to the manor library and was educated with the estate owner’s children, even working with Henry Lloyd in his business ventures. After Lloyd’s death, he lived with his son, Joseph Lloyd.
Hammon’s first work, the broadside An Evening Thought (also referred to as “An Evening Prayer” and “An Evening’s Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries”), was published in 1760.
Considered a religious poet, Hammon also served as a preacher to the other enslaved members of the Lloyd estate. He was a prominent member of the African American community, and in 1787 made a speech to the African Society of New York City titled “An Address to the Negroes in the State of New York.”
Jupiter Hammon was buried in an unmarked grave on the Lloyd estate. An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
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