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 Benjamin
Banneker was born near Baltimore, Maryland in 1731; he was the only
child of a free mulatto mother and African father, who purchased his own
freedom from slavery. Banneker lived all of his life on his parents'
farm on the Patapsco River in Baltimore County. Young Benjamin attended
integrated private schools; he obtained an eighth grade education by age
15 and excelled in mathematics. He took over his parents' farm and
became an excellent farmer.
Josef Levi, a traveling salesman, showed Banneker a pocket watch,
something he had never seen before. He became so fascinated over the
watch that Levi gave it to him. He took the watch home and spent days
taking it apart and putting it back together. In 1753, using the watch
as a model, Banneker produced the first wooden clock ever built in the
United States. It was made entirely of wood, and each gear was carved by
hand. His clock kept perfect time, striking every hour, for more than
forty years. News of the clock created such a sensation that people came
from all over to see it, and the genius who made it.
Benjamin Banneker during the revolutionary war period, George Ellicot, a
neighbor, introduced Banneker to the science of astronomy, which he
rapidly mastered. His aptitude in mathematics and knowledge of astronomy
enabled him to predict the solar eclipse that took place on April 14,
1789. In 1792, Banneker began publishing an almanac that was widely read
and became the main reference for farmers in the Mid-Atlantic states. It
offered weather data, recipes, medical remedies, poems and anti-slavery
essays. This almanac was the first scientific book written by a Black
American, and it was published annually for more than a decade.
Banneker's major reputation stems from his service as a surveyor on the
six-man team which helped design the blueprints for Washington, DC.
President Washington had appointed Banneker, making him the first Black
presidential appointee in the United States. Banneker helped in
selecting the sites for the U.S. Capitol building, the U.S. Treasury
building, the White House and other Federal buildings. When the chairman
of the civil engineering team, Major L'Enfant, abruptly resigned and
returned to France with the plans, Banneker's photographic memory
enabled him to reproduce them in their entirety. Washington, DC, with
its grand avenues and buildings, was completed and stands today as a
monument to Banneker's genius.
Banneker's preoccupation with scientific matters in no way diminished
his concern for the plight of Blacks. In a twelve-page letter to Thomas
Jefferson, he refuted the statement that "Blacks were inferior to
Whites." Jefferson changed his position and, as a testimonial, sent a
copy of Banneker's almanac to the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.
Another was used in Britain's House of Commons to support an argument
for the education of Blacks. Banneker was living proof that "the
strength of mind is in no way connected with the color of the skin."
Banneker's predictions were consistently accurate, except for his
prediction of his own death. Living four years longer than he had
predicted, Banneker died on October 25, 1806, wrapped in a blanket
observing the stars through his telescope.
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