Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker was a scientist, astronomer, inventor, writer and antislavery publicist. Banneker created the first American built striking clock, invented the first Farmers' Almanac and actively campaigned against slavery.
Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, just outside of Baltimore, Maryland, in Ellicott's Mills. He was the son of a slave, however, Banneker was a freeman. Banneker's grandmother, Molly Walsh, was an English immigrant and an indentured servant who married an African slave named Banna Ka. That name was later changed to Bannaky. Walsh, after serving her seven years as an indentured servant, bought a small farm, where Banna Ka was a slave. Her daughter (born free) also married a slave. 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 not a slave.
Banneker was educated by Quakers and quickly revealed to the world his inventive nature. Benjamin Banneker 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 Banneker's work as surveyor of America's capital
Banneker's mechanical and mathematical abilities impressed many, including Thomas Jefferson who 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 almanac included information on medicines and medical treatment, and listed tides, astronomical information, and eclipses 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.