University of Texas Arlington

English professor, graduate student uncover early African-American poem

A UT Arlington graduate student working under associate English professor Cedrick May recently uncovered a piece of history dating back to the days of slavery, Jet Magazine, The Berkeley Blog and BlackAmericaWeb.com reported. While completing research on the first African-American writer, Jupiter Hammon, Julie McCown discovered one of his earliest poems written at the Manuscripts and Archives at Yale University Library in Connecticut. The poem is dated 1786. “For a 200-plus-year-old manuscript, it was in perfect condition,” May said. “I took one look at it and I said, ‘This looks pretty authentic. It’s either a great hoax or this is the real deal.’ This is a poem that we’ve never seen before.”