Benjamin Banneker
Born in 1731 in rural Maryland, Benjamin Banneker was an African American mathematician, astronomer, surveyor, and almanac author. He was the grandson of a former indentured servant from England and a former slave and prince from Mali.
Benjamin’s grandmother used the Bible to teach him how to read and write. Benjamin’s passion for astronomy may have come from his grandfather, who was from Mali’s Dogon culture–known for their astronomical knowledge.
After almost being kidnapped by bounty hunters on a trip to town, Benjamin’s grandmother told him to never go far from their farm.
Physically confined, Benjamin’s brilliant mind and imagination soared. He was a voracious reader, a self-taught mathematician, and a clockmaker. After a visitor gave him a pocket watch, Benjamin used it to construct the first all-wood clock in America.
In 1789, Banneker gained public attention by publishing his first of six almanacs. The almanacs included astronomical data, tide tables, weather forecasts, eclipse predictions, social commentary, poems, and practical information.
In 1791, with a growing reputation as a brilliant mathematical and astronomical mind, Benjamin was asked to join a small survey team to create the boundaries of the District of Colombia—the future home of the nation’s capital.
Banneker was a passionate problem solver and set out to tackle perhaps the most significant problem of the time, slavery and racial injustice. He wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, along with a copy of his almanac, and criticized the slaveowner and writer of the words, ”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” for his blatant hypocrisy.
Benjamin Banneker was not only a genius but a courageous humanitarian who refused to let an unjust society prevent him from reaching for the stars.
