Benjamin Banneker was a self-educated scientist,
astronomer, inventor, writer, and antislavery publicist. He built a striking
clock entirely from wood, published a Farmers' Almanac,
and actively campaigned against slavery. He was one of the
first African Americans to gain distinction in science.
On November 9 1731, Benjamin Banneker was born in Ellicott's
Mills, Maryland. He was the
descendent of slaves, however, Banneker was born a freeman. At that time the law dictated that if your mother was a
slave
then you were a slave, and if she was a freewomen then you were a free person. Banneker's grandmother,
Molly Walsh was a bi-racial English immigrant and indentured servant who married an African slave named Banna
Ka, who had been brought to the Colonies by a slave trader. Molly had served seven years as an indentured
servant before she acquired and worked on her own small farm. Molly Walsh purchased
her future husband Banna Ka and
another African to work on her farm. The name Banna Ka was later changed to
Bannaky and then changed to Banneker. Benjamin's mother Mary Banneker was
born free. Benjamin's father Rodger was a former slave who had bought his own
freedom before marrying Mary.
Benjamin Banneker was educated by Quakers,
however, most of his education was self-taught. He quickly revealed to the world his inventive
nature and first achieved national acclaim for his scientific work in the 1791 survey
of the Federal Territory (now Washington, D.C.). In 1753, he built the
first watch made in America, a wooden pocket watch. Twenty years later,
Banneker began making astronomical calculations that enabled him to successfully
forecast a 1789 solar eclipse. His estimate made well in advance of the
celestial event, contradicted predictions of better-known mathematicians
and astronomers.
Plan
of the city of Washington, D.C., from 1791 shows
Benjamin
Banneker's work as surveyor
of America's capital
Banneker's mechanical and mathematical
abilities impressed many, including Thomas Jefferson who encountered
Banneker after George Elliot had recommended him for the surveying team that laid out Washington D.C.
Banneker is best known
for his six annual Farmer's Almanacs published between 1792 and 1797. In his free time, Banneker began compiling the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
and Virginia Almanac and Ephemeris. The almanacs included information on
medicines and medical treatment, and listed tides, astronomical information,
and eclipses, all calculated by Banneker himself.
On August 19 1791, Banneker sent
a copy of his first almanac to secretary of state Thomas
Jefferson. In an enclosed letter, he questioned the slaveholder's sincerity
as a "friend to liberty." He urged Jefferson to help get rid of "absurd
and false ideas" that one race is superior to another. He wished Jefferson's
sentiments to be the same as his, that "one Universal Father . . . afforded
us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties."
Jefferson responded with praise for Banneker's
accomplishments.
Benjamin Banneker died on October
25, 1806.
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Benjamin Banneker's Letter to
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