Jupiter Hammon
Hammon was born into slavery at the Lloyd Manor on Long Island. Hammon learned to read and write. In 1761, Hammon published his first poem, "An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries." He was the first African American poet published in North America. He was also a well-known and well-respected preacher and clerk-bookkeeper. He was widely circulated for his poems about slavery. As a committed Christian evangelist, Hammon criticized slavery based on the Bible.