"If there was no Bible, it would be no matter whether you could read or not. Reading other books would do you no good."By Jupiter Hammon-courtesy of Famous Poems and Poets.com.
Jupiter Hammon was a very well-regarded slave belonging to the Lloyd family of Long Island, NY. He was educated and a Christian. Many of his quotes revolve around being a faithful servant/slave. I don't want to dwell on slavery with Hammon. That's another subject in and of itself. We need to look past that mindset and examine his wisdom. His quotes are very insightful and are food for thought. If we take away the master/slave connotation, we can replace it with an employer/employee connotation. Thus, we can appreciate his intelligence at face value.
How simple, yet profound is this quote above. Reading, to Hammon, had no use unless it was to read the Bible. Really, all life revolves around is just that: Christianity. The Bible teaches faithfulness, trustworthiness, and doing everything to the best of your abilities. I believe this is what Hammon was referring to in regards to most of his quotes. Simple people don't beat around the bush. Hammon is referring to the Bible as being 'good', and is a play on words that the other books would be bad for you.
There are so many good poets that have been forgotten in the passage of time, that we need to open some of these books and learn from their acumen.
Famouspoemsandpoets.com says in Jupiter Hammon's biography: "he... personally had no wish to be free, [but] he did wish others, especially 'the young Negroes, were free.'" Perhaps he was of the order that he lead by example. If he lived today and had a job, he'd be an excellent and successful manager. In other words, he'd be an asset wherever he went.
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