Today’s post is about my 300-year-old friend, Jupiter Hammon.  There are no known photos of Jupiter but I’m enjoying learning about his life on Long Island.  This was definitely not in any history book in high school.  Ironic too, because he lived only a few miles from my high school.

Jupiter was born into slavery on October 17, 1711, in the manor house of Henry Lloyd in Lloyd’s Neck on Long Island. A slave of the Lloyd family, Jupiter read and studied the bible and was also the first African American published in the United States.  Jupiter became known as a preacher to the slaves on Lloyd Manor and in surrounding communities. He was a gentle person and he taught the gospel of the bible and encouraged slaves to be dutiful yet learn the true teachings of Christianity.

He will bring us all, rich and poor, white and black, to his judgment seat.                              – Jupiter Hammon

Let all the time you can get be spent in trying to learn to read.                                                    – Jupiter Hammon

• African American History
• Black History Month
• Writing