If you missed the February 9, 2022 public screening of theater artist Malik Work’s interpretation of Jupiter Hammon’s An Essay on Slavery, the short film is now available for online viewing. The discussion with the filmmakers that followed the screening, moderated by Professor Douglas Jones, is also included in the digital recording.
Malik Work’s short film will be part of a future exhibition and audio-visual installation at Joseph Lloyd Manor, one of Preservation Long Island’s historic house musems and a site that enslaved generations of people of African descent including Jupiter Hammon (1711–ca.1806), who wrote powerfully about the social and moral conflicts slavery raised in the newly formed United States.
The ongoing Jupiter Hammon Project, a multi-year initiative that aims to establish a more accurate and equitable interpretation of Joseph Lloyd Manor, reflects input from a wide range of stakeholders—including the museum’s Community Advisory Council, the Education Committee, members of descendant communities, local residents, educators, historians, as well as contemporary artists.
Malik Work is a NYC-based actor-teacher-writer-emcee and a founding member of the groundbreaking jazz/hip hop conglomerate: The Real Live Show. His recent television credits include Broad City on Comedy Central and Blacklist: Redemption on NBC. He has provided award-winning voice-over for national network commercials, scripted television, radio, and the internet. He’s composed and performed poetry for Webby Award-winning project People Not Property, an historic preservation and educational website for Historic Hudson Valley. He teaches acting, Shakespeare, theater arts, creative writing, hip hop and hip-hop theater, locally and internationally. He is a faculty member and alumnus of the National Theater Institute, and a teaching artist for the Public Theater.
Douglas A. Jones, Jr. is Associate Professor of English and Theater Studies at Duke University. His research treats (African) American literatures of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, drama and performance studies, and cultural histories of slavery in British North America and the US. He is currently writing a book on early African American literature’s contributions to democratic theory.
William “GoodWill” Ellis uses his love of community to create multi-sensory experiential art. With Caribbean ancestry, Will was born and raised in Brooklyn and spent many years living, working and serving in areas like Bed Stuy, Ocean Hill, Brownsville, East New York, Crown Heights and Flatbush. GoodWill is a husband and father of four beautiful children who all have all pursued careers in the arts. He attended NYIT majoring in Graphic Design. He is an Experience curator and artist and has displayed art at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn, NY, the Bamako Biennial in Bamako, Mali and the Caribbean Arts Fair in Barbados. He has executed multimedia installations at institutions including: Arts East New York, BRIC, Brooklyn Museum, and the Schomburg Center.
Aanika Allen is a creator, producer, director & assistant dean. She has participated in the creation of art making and arts education for the past 10 years. She is thrilled to have collaborated on the film interpretation of “Jupiter Hammon’s Essay on Slavery” as the cinematographer. Aanika is based in Philadelphia.
