Everything about Benjamin Banneker totally explained
Benjamin Banneker, originally
Banna Ka, or
Bannakay (
November 9,
1731–
October 9,
1806) was a free
African American mathematician,
astronomer,
clockmaker, and
publisher. Banneker's achievements were referenced by
Stevie Wonder in the song Black Man, from the album
Songs in the Key of Life.
(External Link
)
Family history
Banneker's mother was Mary Bannaky (1710-1790–?). Oral tradition states that his grandmother was a
European American named Molly Walsh. The story goes that Molly became the owner of a farm and married one of her slaves named Bannakay, whom she freed. They had four girls and Mary was the oldest.
Benjamin's father, Robert Banna Ka, was a former slave who had built a series of
dams and watercourses that successfully
irrigated the family
farm at
Ellicott's Mills, where Benjamin was born and lived most of his life. Benjamin was taught to read and do simple arithmetic by his grandmother and by a
Quaker schoolmaster, who changed his name to Banneker. Once he was old enough to help on his parents' farm, his formal education ended.
Clockmaking
At 21, Banneker saw a pocket watch that was owned by
Andrew Ellicott. He was so amazed by it that Ellicott gave it to him. Banneker spent days taking it apart and reassembling it. From it Banneker then carved large-scale wooden replicas of each piece, calculating the gear assemblies himself, and used the parts to make a striking clock. The clock continued to work striking each hour for more than 50 years.
This event changed his life, and he became a watch and clockmaker. One customer was
Joseph Ellicott, a Quaker
surveyor, who needed an extremely accurate timepiece to make correct calculations of the locations of
stars. Ellicott was so impressed with his work that he lent him books on
mathematics and
astronomy.
Astronomy and geographical survey work
Banneker began his solo study of astronomy at age 58. He was able to make the calculations to predict
solar and
lunar eclipses and to compile an
ephemeris for the
Benjamin Banneker's Almanac, which an anti-slavery society published from
1792 through
1797. He became known as the
Sable Astronomer.
In early
1791,
Andrew Ellicott hired Banneker to assist in a
survey of the boundaries of the future 100 square-mile
District of Columbia, which was to contain the federal capital city (the city of Washington) in the portion of the District that was northeast of the
Potomac River. Because of illness and the difficulties in helping to survey at the age of 59 an extensive area that was largely wilderness, Banneker left the boundary survey in April, 1791, and returned to his home at Ellicott Mills to work on his ephemeris.
A popular interpretation describes Banneker's activities after he left the boundary survey. In
1792, President
George Washington accepted the resignation of the
French-American
Peter (Pierre) Charles L'Enfant, who had drawn the first plans for the city of Washington but had quit out of frustration with his superiors. According to the legend, L'Enfant took his plans with him, leaving no copies behind. As the story is told, Banneker spent two days recreating the bulk of the city plans from memory. The plans that Banneker drew from his presumably photographic memory then provided the basis for the later construction of the federal capital city.
However, the legend can't be correct. President Washington and others, including Andrew Ellicott (who, after completing the boundary survey had begun a survey of the federal city in accordance with L'Enfant's plan), also possessed copies of various versions of the plan that L'Enfant had prepared, one of which L'Enfant had sent out for printing. The U.S.
Library of Congress presently owns a copy of a plan for the federal city that bears the adopted name of the plan's author, "Peter Charles L'Enfant". Furthermore, Banneker left the federal capital area and returned to Ellicott Mills in early 1791, while L'Enfant was still refining his plans for the capital city as part of his federal employment.
Views on slavery and racial equality
After departing the federal capital area, Banneker expressed a vision of social justice and equity that he wished to be adhered to in the everyday fabric of American life. He wrote to the
Secretary of State and
author of the
Declaration of Independence,
Thomas Jefferson, a plea for justice for African Americans, calling on the colonists' personal experience as "slaves" of
Britain and quoting Jefferson's own words. To support his plea, Banneker included a copy of his newly published ephemeris with its astronomical calculations. Jefferson replied to Banneker less than two weeks later in a series of statements asserting his own interest in the advancement of the equality of America's black population. Jefferson also forwarded a copy of Banneker's
Almanac to the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. It was also used in Britain's House of Commons. Benjamin died on
October 9 1806 at age 74 in his log cabin. He never married.
Following a life journey that would be echoed by others after him including
Martin Luther King Jr., and, being largely supported by European Americans who promoted racial equality and an end to
racial discrimination, Banneker spent the early years of his advocacy efforts arguing specifically for the rights of American Blacks, but turned in his later years to an argument for the peaceful equality of all mankind. In 1792, Banneker included in his Almanac, a plan for the creation of a new Department in the American federal government. Several pages of Banneker's almanac outlined a Department of Peace, testifying to his ethical positions and to the need to balance a Department of War with a Department of Peace dedicated to promoting the de-escalation of national and international conflict.
Benjamin Banneker Park and Memorial, Washington, D.C.
A small
urban park memorializing Benjamin Banneker is located at a prominent overlook (Banneker Circle) at the south end of L'Enfant Promenade in southwest Washington, D.C., a half
mile south of the
Smithsonian Institution's "Castle" on the
National Mall. Although the
National Park Service administers the park, the Government of the
District of Columbia owns the park's site. The park, which was constructed in
1970, is now stop number 8 on Washington's Southwest Heritage Trail.
In
2004, the D.C. Preservation League listed the park as one of the most endangered places in the District of Columbia. The Washington Interdependence Council is presently planning to construct a monumental memorial to Banneker at or near the site of the park. On
October 26,
2006, the Council held a
charrette during which a panel of judges evaluated five sculptors' proposals, one of which may become the basis of the monument. The winning design was to be revealed on
November 30,
2006.
Letter to Thomas Jefferson on racism
"Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges, which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves."
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