Jupiter Hammon Quotes
I suppose I have had more advantages and privileges than most of you, who are slaves have ever known, and I believe more than many white people have enjoyed, for which I desire to bless God, and pray that he may bless those who have given them to me.
Hammon, Jupiter. An Address to the Negroes in the State of New-York. Carroll and Patterson, 1787, p. 5.
The newly freed slave would have no practical chance of success in a capitalistic, competitive society unless he had the basic tools and property to earn a living and compete. This was mandated for the ancient Jews in the Law of Moses. This was not considered too seriously in Reconstruction after the Civil War, and much of the discrimination and racism might have been avoided if the freed slaves were all given some land as many were in general homesteading programs. These Blacks, and those that went to the industrial North where business owners provided them with the tools and resources in exchange for their labor, were generally the most successful.
Jupiter Hammon (1711-ca. 1806) is known as a founder of African-American literature, as his poem published in 1761 in New York was the first by an African American in North America. He published both poetry and prose after that. In addition, he was a preacher and a commercial clerk on Long Island, New York.
