CBH Discussion | Reflections on the Religious Poetry of Jupiter Hammon
Jupiter Hammon was born into slavery in 1711 on the Long Island estate of Henry Lloyd. In 1760 he became one of the earliest if not the very first African-American to be published when his poem, An Evening Thought, appeared in print. Hammon was a devout Christian. His writings encompass Christian themes of salvation, redemption and faith. As we approach the holiday season, join us for a close reading of Hammon’s faith-based poems and discuss the expression of spiritual life in African-American Christian poetry today. The program is facilitated by CBH Chief Historian Dominique Jean-Louis with special guest, poet and activist Jonathan Walton and introductory remarks by Rev. Dr. Valerie Oliver-Durrah.
Please note that capacity for this program is limited.
This program along with the digitization of the Henry Lloyd Ledgers by the Center for Brooklyn History and the Center for Brooklyn History Long Island Collection Assessment project, have been made possible with generous funding from The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
Participants
Jonathan Walton is a poet, author and creator of the faith-based Emotionally Healthy Activist Course and podcast. He was a member of the award-winning poetry group, Poetic People Power for nearly two decades. He is the author of 5 books, including My Release and Twelve Lies that Hold America Captive, co-founded KTF Press, and co-hosts the Shake the Dust podcast. He has a degree in Creative Writing from Columbia University and an MA from the City University in New York in the Study of the Americas. Jonathan lives in Queens with his wife, two daughters, and dog, and appreciates opportunities to share with those desiring to cross the bridge between the haves and have nots in spiritual and material resources the way that Jesus did. You can follow him on instagram at @joanthanpanwalton, on Substack @KTFPress and on patreon at patreon.com/IVED.
Rev. Dr. Valerie Oliver-Durrah is Founder and President of the Neighborhood Technical Assistance Clinic. Dr. Durrah fosters unique partnerships as a philanthropic advisor, and non-profit coach and manager. Her faith-based consulting work focuses on diverse ethnic populations and the underserved. Dr. Durrah consults with philanthropists, foundations, organizations, institutions, seminaries, agencies and healthcare entities seeking help to improve their programs addressing the needs of low income and service-starved neighborhoods. Dr. Durrah is an ordained global minister and the first African American trustee of the Brooklyn Historical Society (now Center for Brooklyn History). A member of Bethany Baptist Church and Church Women United, she published Lead Me, Guide Me: Capacity Building Resource Guide for clergy women and helped to establish NYC’s Office of Faith and Community Partnerships.
Dominique Jean-Louis, Ph.D is the Chief Historian of the Center for Brooklyn History at the Brooklyn Public Library. Previously, she held the position of Associate Curator of History Exhibitions at New-York Historical Society, where she co-curated Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow (2018), Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass' America (2022), and is the co-curator of Black Dolls (2022). She is a former Mellon Predoctoral Fellow in Museum Education at the Museum of the City of New York, where she also contributed to the flagship exhibition New York at Its Core (2016). She received her B.A. in Comparative Ethnic Studies from Columbia University, and her Ph.D in US History from New York University, with her doctoral research focusing on race, education, and immigration in post-Civil Rights Era Brooklyn. Dominique regularly writes and lectures on Blackness in America, schools and education, and New York City history.
