Benjamin Banneker was an American almanac author, surveyor, scientist, astronomer, and farmer. He was one of the first important African-American intellectuals. Banneker was called upon to assist in the surveying of territory for the construction of the nation's capital. He also became an active writer of almanacs and exchanged letters with Thomas Jefferson, politely challenging him to do what he could to ensure racial equality.
Background
Benjamin Banneker was born free on November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, on the family farm near the Patapsco River, in the area that eventually became known as Oella, Maryland. He was soon joined by three sisters. He was the son of an African slave named Robert, who had bought his own freedom, and of Mary Banneky, who was the daughter of an Englishwoman and a free African slave. The family name was later changed to Banneker.
Banneker's parents were free and so he could escape the chains of slavery as well. Benjamin was raised with three sisters in a log house built by his father on his 100-acre farm near the banks of the Patapsco River. Few black families owned farms at that time because most blacks were slaves, but the Bannekys made a good living raising tobacco.
Still, the color of their skin alienated them from the community of nearby farmers. Amid a rising tide of sentiment against free blacks in the colonies, Banneker’s family had to tread lightly in their own neighborhood.
Education
Banneker received no formal schooling except for several weeks' attendance at a nearby Quaker one-room schoolhouse. Taught to read and write from a Bible by his white grandmother, he became a voracious reader, borrowing books when he could. He later taught himself literature, history, and mathematics, and he enjoyed reading. Banneker taught himself astronomy and accurately forecasted lunar and solar eclipses.
As he grew into an adult, Banneker inherited the farm left to him by his grandparents. He expanded the already successful farm, where he grew tobacco. The demands of the farm soon ended young Banneker's formal education, but his love of learning continued. Along with mathematics, he was particularly interested in studying machines.
Career
While still a young man (probably about age 20), Benjamin built a wooden clock that kept precise time. Banneker was encouraged in the study of astronomy by George Ellicott, a Quaker and amateur astronomer whose family owned nearby mills. In 1761, at the age of thirty, Banneker constructed a striking wooden clock without having ever seen a clock before (although he had examined a pocket watch). He painstakingly carved the toothed wheels and gears of the clock out of seasoned wood. The clock operated successfully until the time of his death.
Banneker's talents and intelligence eventually came to the attention of the Ellicott family, entrepreneurs who had made a name and fortune by building a series of gristmills in the Baltimore area in the 1770s. George Ellicott had a large personal library and loaned Banneker numerous books on astronomy and other fields. Banneker made projections for solar (of the Sun) and lunar (of the Moon) eclipses and computed ephemerides for an almanac. In 1791 Banneker was unable to sell his observations, but these rejections did not stop his studies.
In 1791, Andrew Ellicott, George’s cousin, hired Banneker to assist in surveying territory for the nation’s capital city. Banneker worked in the field for several months as Ellicott's scientific assistant. After the baselines and boundaries had been established and Banneker had returned home, he prepared an ephemeris for the following year, which was published in Baltimore in Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord, 1792; Being Bissextile, or Leap-Year, and the Sixteenth Year of American Independence. Banneker's calculations would give the positions of the planets and stars for each day of the year, and his almanacs were published every year from 1792 until 1797.
Also in 1791, Banneker sent a long and remarkable letter to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson appealing for his help in eradicating slavery in the United States. He used Jefferson’s own words from the Declaration of Independence to demonstrate that the same rights that Revolutionary patriots fought for were still denied to blacks in the United States. Jefferson’s reply was brief and ambiguous, but he did express his hope that Banneker’s example would prove that the appearance of black inferiority was merely a result of their degraded condition under slavery - a point that Jefferson’s own biases never overcame.
Later that year Banneker’s almanac for 1792 was printed; it sold out quickly and went into various printings until 1802. Although later editions did not sell well, the almanac brought in enough money for him to quit farming and devote himself to his research and writing. The last known issue of Banneker's almanacs appeared for the year 1797, because of lessening interest in the antislavery movement. Nevertheless, he prepared ephemerides for each year until 1804. He also published a treatise (formal writing) on bees and computed the cycle of the seventeen-year locust.
Banneker died in his sleep following a morning walk on October 9, 1806, one month short of his seventy-fifth birthday. He was buried several days later in the family graveyard within sight of his house. As his body was being lowered into the grave, his house burst into flames, and all of its contents were destroyed. The cause of the fire remains unknown. Fortunately, the books and table he had borrowed, his commonplace book, and the astronomical journal in which he had copied all of his ephemerides had been given to his neighbor immediately following his death and thus were preserved.
Banneker espoused no particular religion or creed, but he was a very religious man, attending the services and meetings of various denominations held in the region, although he preferred those of the Society of Friends.
Politics
Banneker called for the abolition (prohibition) of slavery and challenged Jefferson to work for the ideals he had promoted for all citizens in the 1776 Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was the historic document announcing that the American colonies had rejected British rule and were forming a new nation, the United States of America.
Views
As an essayist and pamphleteer, Banneker opposed slavery and advocated civil rights. In 1791 he sent Thomas Jefferson, then United States secretary of state, a letter asking Jefferson’s aid in bringing about better conditions for African Americans.
Quotations:
"Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects bad manners."
"The color of the skin is in no way connected with the strength of the mind or intellectual powers."
"Presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to us, nor despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties."
Personality
When he became too old to work on the farm, Banneker sold it to the Ellicot family on condition that he was allowed to live in the farmhouse for the rest of his days. He spent his last days alone in the farmhouse studying and continuing to carry out scientific experiments.
He also continued to keep his garden. He hosted many distinguished scientists and artists of his day, and his visitors commented on his intelligence and on his knowledge of everything of importance that was happening in the country. As always, he remained precise and reflective in his conversations with others.
Interests
science, gardening
Connections
Benjamin Banneker did not marry and pursued his scientific studies all through his life. He did not have any relationship with any woman in his life.
Benjamin Banneker: Pioneering Scientist
Gazing up at the stars, Benjamin Banneker longed to understand how and why things worked as they did. In a time when most black Americans were slaves, Banneker lived a life of freedom and became known as America's first black American man of science.
2003
Dear Benjamin Banneker
Throughout his life, Banneker was troubled that all blacks were not free. And so, in 1791, he wrote to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who had signed the Declaration of Independence.