Benjamin Banneker Biography

Mathematician

Benjamin Banneker was a free-born descendant of slaves who became a famous 18th-century astronomer, mathematician and surveyor. He is considered by many to be the first African-American scientist. Banneker was raised on a tobacco farm in rural Maryland, where he attended school but was largely self-taught in the sciences. Although Banneker worked most of his life as a farmer, his analytical and problem-solving skills became legendary. His achievements were indeed impressive: at age 24 he studied clockworks and constructed his own clock from wood; he taught himself astronomy and published a popular almanac, Benjamin Banneker's Almanac, from 1792 to 1797; he was appointed to assist in surveying the Federal Territory, the plot of land that was to become Washington, D.C.; he worked on calculating the precise measurement of the meter; and he corresponded with Thomas Jefferson on the issue of slavery and the intellectual equality of blacks. Banneker never married and much of his personal life is now a mystery, as his papers and belongings were destroyed in a fire that occurred on the day of his funeral.

Banneker joins George Washington Carver, Maya Angelou and Marcus Garvey in our loop on Black History Month.

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