Jupiter Hammon, the First Negro Poet Essay

Introduction

Jupiter Hammon is better known as the first African poet to be published in the United States. The American writer is currently a significant figure in the history of American literature. Hammon’s first poem was published in 1760, presumably at the age of 49 (Redding 24). The poet left behind a significant layer of works that are not the least in the art of poetry and prose. For most of his life, Jupiter Hammon lived on the Queens Village estate, a large plantation in the North owned by the Lloyd family.

Jupiter Hammon belonged to the Lloyd family of Lloyd’s Neck, Long Island. Their family was very wealthy and were considered influential merchants and farmers. The Lloyds were listed with commercial and religious ties throughout New England and Britain. In the recently built Lloyd Manor House, the future famous poet Jupiter Hammon was born on October 17, 1711 (Redding 17). Due to the lack of a complete English equivalent of the term describing the status of a poet, Jupiter Hammon was verna, the Latin word for a householder.

Jupiter Hammon (October 17, 1711–1805) grew up to be a diligent slave, namely the senior servant at Lloyd’s estate. Apparently, the author was never married or had children, according to the few available sources about his life. Thanks to the writer’s brother, Obedia Hammond (circa 1715-1755), the Hammon family line continued (Redding 17). He had connections with St. John’s Episcopal Church in Huntington, was married, and had three children. The descendants of the well-known family of Hammon, most likely, date back to Obedia through Richard, Cato, and Ruth, his children.

Among the ‘old blacks,’ there was a man, a slave, who was destined to become the first representative of his race to see his name in print as a poet of poetry. Henry Lloyd, owner of Lord Lloyds Neck, or Royal Village ends the codicil, dated March 3, 1763 (Redding 15). While these words may not appear to be anything special, they are of prime importance to American literature in and of themselves. Hammon lived a long life serving three clans of the Lloyd family and becoming the first well-known black poet in the USA.

During the 1790s, Lloyd’s former estate was under the political jurisdiction of the city of Oyster Bay. Local authorities and many of the city’s former slave masters have misinterpreted the law and unilaterally ‘set free’ their slaves without proper documentation. As a result, between 1791 and 1795, Hammon was released. A few years later, some freed slaves petitioned the city to create an official legal account and obtain the foreclosure papers. Jupiter Hammon began to build his new life in a young free African American community in the late eighteenth century. Some of the other members of his family were with him who had migrated from Lloyd’s Manor estates to Huntington Village.

The First Works of the Writer

Undoubtedly, Jupiter Hammon was the first member of the Negro race to write and publish poetry in his country. For over a century, Phyllis Wheatley has praised the entire English-speaking world as the first representative of their race (Rinehart 641). It appeared in print as a versifier of the beginning of the Negro branch of literature, at least concerning America. However, we are talking about Jupiter Hammon, so there is reason to assert that he was not only ahead of Miss Wheatley by almost ten years as a poet. At least one of his poems was published before Phyllis Wheatley reached the shores of the United States or knew even one word of English.

The most recent trace of Hammon can be found in a letter dated 1730 when the poet was supposed to be ten or twelve years old. Nearly two decades after the poet’s death, the late Bishop Daniel A. Payne spoke of a writer whose poem he had in his collection (Redding 47). This poem was signed with the name of Hammon, which means that Jupiter was engaged in writing long before he began to publish his works. This fact also indicates that the first relatively famous poem written by an African poet was earlier than anything written by a Negro in America, as far as can be traced. However, Daniel A. Payne lost it and could not remember the title.

An Essay on Slavery is no less valuable and unforgettable artifact for the history of literature and cultural studies, as well as for their researchers. That is the first copy of what appears to be a rough draft of Jupiter Hammon’s work (Hammon 77). The poem is written on a popular type of paper produced in eighteenth-century Europe. Parchment is a large, complete sheet of a clasp, just like the European type of paper at the time. The bright catenary lines inherent in the papermaking process of this era can be easily traced in Jupiter Hammon’s draft (Rinehart 647). These lines cross all the pages both horizontally and vertically.

The manuscript contains numerous notes, corrections, erasures, and other indications of the process of writing a poetic work by Jupiter Hammon. These notes allow scholars to study the writing style and the opportunity to explore his writing methods. One exciting aspect of the poem is the writer’s handwriting itself. It looks relatively good, even better than the handwriting of many of the members of Lloyd and Hillhouse. It allows specialists to argue that Hammon was a very accomplished writer who most likely spent a lot of time developing his handwriting.

There must be other non-literary works of Jupiter Hammon’s writing, such as notes, lists, or other entries. Anything that might indicate what exactly Hammon used to practice his handwriting. The next significant and no less exciting feature of the poem is its spelling. It is elaborate and generally follows the rules of the period, which was not expected of a former slave, especially because the manuscript is most likely a draft.

Themes in Jupiter Hammon’s Poems and Events Influencing Them

The Lloyd Family were authoritarian owners who remunerated well-subservient slaves with their trust and affection. Apparently, according to various sources, Jupiter was an excellent slave. Lloyd also liked several other slaves in Huntington, and, importantly, Hammon’s master was a Christian. As an adult, Jupiter handled minor financial matters for the family. Most importantly, he was educated and could both read and write. These facts from his biography now form the basis of the picture of Hammon’s perception as a black writer. The author also uncritically assimilated the religious views of his master and accepted the role of a spoiled slave with satisfaction.

However, this conventional wisdom fails to gauge the effect caused by revolutionary period on Hammon as a priest and speaker. The American Revolution became an obstacle between the comfortable and stable life of the poet-preacher, was a major political event in the Jupiter Hammon’s life. By the time of the war, the Lloyd family split into factions of loyalists and Whigs. When the British occupied Long Island in 1776, the sixty-five-year-old Jupiter Hammon traveled to Connecticut with two of Lloyd’s Whigs and his second master of the family.

During the revolution and the post-revolutionary period, the poet wrote several evangelical works based on conventions of protest rhetoric that aided the rise of blacks. An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley, published in 1778, glorifies the black poet as a peasant and moral model (Hammon 37). Written in 1782, A Poem for Children with Thoughts on Death is a preaching tradition that encourages godliness among the younger generation. The two sermons, A Winter Piece and An Evening’s Improvement, aim to preach to blacks in the last years of the war.

In his last published article, An Address to the Negroes of the State of New York, Hammon tried to instill Afro morality and ethics in the American community after the war. Puritan retailers of the 1770s and 1780s were often used for moralistic purposes (Hammon 41). Hammon was a black proponent of what Gordon Wood called the moral transformation mandate. However, Hammon placed particular emphasis on the appeal of ministers for civil order. Drawing on theology, religious rituals, and political rhetoric associated with a call for moral transformation, Hammon delivered a nationalist message to his black audience.

Hammon’s sermons, written during the revolutionary and post-revolutionary era, reflect the growing political importance of blacks during that period. Jupiter brings up the deaths of blacks in the War of Independence and proposes the creation of a virtuous black nation within the American country. The writer talks about petitions for freedom from black slaves. His sermons contained a strong call for the moral and social autonomy of blacks. Hammon argued that blacks must maintain their high ethical standards precisely because, like slaves on Earth, they already secured a place in heaven. Hammon’s speech also promoted the idea of gradual emancipation to end slavery. He knew that slavery was deeply rooted in American society and the recent emancipation of slaves, firstly, would not happen, and secondly, even gradually would be challenging to achieve.

Freedom and Obedience of Slaves

The price of freedom for the first generation of liberated men and women was indeed high. Former slaves struggled to survive in the absence of meaningful insurance support or sufficient economic opportunity. That demonstrates how close Jupiter Hammon came to the truth, instructing those who supported liberation without reflecting on the real conditions for the ‘newborn’ people. At the same time, there is overwhelming evidence that close-knit African American communities began to form as early as the first decade after liberation. And, most likely, the writer himself and his family members sought support from these societies.

Some studies have argued that Hammon, on the contrary, encouraged slaves to remain loyal to their masters until the very end. However, they believe that Hammon’s prowess in Bible interpretation is more than just the conservatism implied by many critics. Indeed, Hammon’s conservative side is, at best, a shell that the author used to protect himself from the wrath of the slave owners. It can also be a defense against retaliation or punishment by supporters of slavery.

Speaking and living for most of his life as a slave who at the same time opposes slavery, he has developed a style of writing with many hidden meanings. The meaning of the discussion of scientists lies in the invariance of the themes of Jupiter Hammon. That is, raising the piece of Christianity and all-obedience in his poems, the writer, however, did not mean it quite literally. Skillfully handling biblical themes that preach obedience and peace, he understood that even the most demanding reader would surely approve his works.

However, his works also contain not a small number of coded implications. From the point of view of the perception of these poems by the audience, it could be somewhat the outcome of Jupiter Hammon’s writing activity. If earlier critics had identified all the meanings hidden in the lyrics, they might have received less severe treatment in their hands. On the other hand, if they were noticed by his colonial audience, which supported slavery, today both literary scholars and readers would hardly have known about the poems of the first African poet.

The theme of nature in the works of Jupiter Hammon is also interesting for consideration. The Joseph Lloyd Estate and Salt-Box Manor House, which the writer once lived in, were right on the south bank of Lloyd’s Neck, Long Island (McCown 154). The houses faced Lloyd Harbor, which stretches to Long Island Sound, and beauties such as sky, sea, and coastline dominated the landscape from the head of the two villages. That is why it should come as no surprise that these natural landscapes are often found in Hammon’s manuscripts.

However, most of the researchers tend to understate the part of the spiritual and material worlds in the works of the author. They argue that the leading role in the writer’s works is given to issues of spirituality instead of earthly ones (McCown 154). In their opinion, Hammon himself focus on his belief that he was like a stranger on earth, for example, in A Winter Piece. However, in his poetry and prose, Hammon emphasizes the role of vision, perception, and, most importantly, the relationship of the natural world with the material world.

Conclusion

Thanks to the author’s references to the nature, and his concept of mental and material vision of the world, Hammon’s works reveal other unexpected sides of the writer. It demonstrates his awareness that he is limited by his empirical worldview and the need to perceive and analyze the metaphysical or divine by sensing it as physical. As one can see, even the coverage of the theme of nature in poems has a more profound connotation and is endowed with various hidden meanings.

That is, it is not at all a symbol of minimalism or lack of complexity. The use of various theories, points of view, and interpretations by Hammon helps to strengthen the understanding of his inner world. This fact makes it even closer to the audience, as it becomes more tangible and accessible for them. That is why the works of Jupiter Hammon are available to an extensive range of readers, free and enslaved, literate and illiterate. Jupiter Hammon is undoubtedly a significant figure in American literary history, as well as an outstanding writer.

Works Cited

Hammon, Jupiter. ”Address to the Negroes in the State of New York.” African American Religious History, 2020, pp. 34–43. Web.

Hammon, Jupiter. The Collected Works of Jupiter Hammon: Poems and Essays. The University of Tennessee Press, 2017.

McCown, Julie. “Bodily Eyes: Vision and Perception in the Works of Jupiter Hammon.” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, vol. 32, no. 3, 2018, pp. 154–160. Web.

Redding, Saunders J. To Make a Poet Black. Cornell University Press, 2018.

Rinehart, Nicholas T. “Lateral Reading Lyric Testimony; or the Difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in the Americas.” American Quarterly, vol. 73, no. 3, 2021, pp. 639–670. Web.