He was an inventor, a mathematicion, an astronmomer and an author. He helped to design the capital of Washington D.C. We usually talk about Ben Franklin as being prolific but we also need to recognize the accomplishments of Benjamim Banneker.
A farmer from a humble family, Banneker nevertheless lived a life of unusual achievement. In 1753, the young man borrowed a pocket watch from a well-to-do neighbor; he took it apart and made a drawing of each component, then reassembled the watch and returned it, fully functioning, to its owner. His "Almanac"; was a top seller from Pennsylvania to Virginia and even into Kentucky.
In 1791, Banneker was a technical assistant in the calculating and first-ever surveying of the Federal District, which is now Washington, D.C. The Sable Astronomer was often pointed to as proof that African Americans were not intellectually inferior to European Americans. Thomas Jefferson himself noted this in a letter to Banneker.
Banneker died on Sunday, October 9, 1806 at the age of 74. A few small memorial traces still exist in the Ellicott City/Oella region of Maryland, where Banneker spent his entire life except for the Federal survey. It was not until the 1990s that the actual site of Banneker’s home was determined.In 1980, the U.S. Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his honor.
To Mr. BENJAMIN BANNEKER. Philadelphia, August 30, 1791.
SIR, I thank you, sincerely, for your letter of the 19th instant,
and for the Almanac it contained. No body wishes more than I do, to see
such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren
talents equal to those of the other colors of men ; and that the appearance
of the want of them, is owing merely to the degraded condition of their
existence, both in Africa and America. I can add with truth, that no
body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced, for raising
the condition, both of their body and mind, to what it ought to be, as
far as the imbecility of their present existence, and other
circumstances, which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have taken the
liberty of sending your Almanac to Monsieur de Condozett,
Secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and Member of the
Philanthropic Society, because I considered it as a document, to which
your whole color had a right for their justification, against the
doubts which have been entertained of them. I am with great esteem,
Sir, Your most obedient Humble Servant, THOMAS
JEFFERSON.
Jefferson's Reply to Banneker Thomas Jefferson Papers,
American Memory Collection (Library of Congress)
