The Collected Works of Jupiter Hammon

Book excerpt: "This text will become the definitive collection of Hammon's work--not only because of the archival finds that Cedrick May features but also because of his careful and attentive reconstruction of Hammon's historical, political, social, and religious contexts."--Katy Chiles, author of Transformable Race: Surprising Metamorphoses in the Literature of Early America "This volume, which reflects those discoveries about the Hammon's life and work that have taken place since Ransom's earlier collection, will enable scholars, instructors, students, and other interested readers ready to access the most up-to-date assessment and presentation of this pioneering African American author's body of work."--Ajuan Mance, editor of Before Harlem: An Anthology of African American Literature from the Long Nineteenth Century Editor Cedrick May's The Collected Works of Jupiter Hammon offers a complete look at the literary achievements of one of the founders of African American literature: Jupiter Hammon (1711-1806?), the first Black writer to be published in what became the United States of America. With this collection--the most comprehensive volume on Hammon's works to date--May carefully reconstructs the historical, political, social, and religious contexts that shaped Hammon's essays and poems throughout the late eighteenth century. This fresh presentation and insightful reevaluation sets down a new rubric for how Hammon, an enslaved person from New York, can be studied and appreciated among literary scholars and readers alike.