Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Benjamin Banneker" - New World
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George shared Benjamin's fascination with natural science and mathematics and loaned several important books to the elder man which Banneker used to educate himself in surveying and astronomy. The association with the Ellicots complimented his desire to learn new skills and he was hired by Major Andrew Ellicot to assist in the surveying of the District of Columbia. | George shared Benjamin's fascination with natural science and mathematics and loaned several important books to the elder man which Banneker used to educate himself in surveying and astronomy. The association with the Ellicots complimented his desire to learn new skills and he was hired by Major Andrew Ellicot to assist in the surveying of the District of Columbia. | ||
| − | Retiring from that project due to health problems the aging Banneker devoted his free time to the production of 6 Almanacs which included calculations of celestial phenomena for the years 1792-1797. These were published with the assistance of prominent abolitionists who saw in the talented astronomer a | + | Retiring from that project due to health problems the aging Banneker devoted his free time to the production of 6 Almanacs which included calculations of celestial phenomena for the years 1792-1797. These were published with the assistance of prominent abolitionists who saw in the talented astronomer a stong argument for the equality of all men regardless of race. |
Benjamin Banneker died on October 9, 1806, at age 74 in his log cabin. He never married. | Benjamin Banneker died on October 9, 1806, at age 74 in his log cabin. He never married. | ||
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At the age of 28, following his father Robert's death, Benjamin Banneker assumed ownership of the family farm and became responsible for his mother and sisters. He farmed tobacco, raised cows and tended behives from which he derived much pleasure. At the age of 32 he acquired his first book, a bible, in which he inscribed the date of purchase, January 4, 1763. <ref> The Life of Benjamin Banneker, Bedini, Silvio A., second edition 1999, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. | At the age of 28, following his father Robert's death, Benjamin Banneker assumed ownership of the family farm and became responsible for his mother and sisters. He farmed tobacco, raised cows and tended behives from which he derived much pleasure. At the age of 32 he acquired his first book, a bible, in which he inscribed the date of purchase, January 4, 1763. <ref> The Life of Benjamin Banneker, Bedini, Silvio A., second edition 1999, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. | ||
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| + | ==A Scientist Emerges== | ||
Banneker began his study of astronomy at age 58. He was able to make the calculations to predict Solar eclipse|sol and Lunar eclipse|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'''. | Banneker began his study of astronomy at age 58. He was able to make the calculations to predict Solar eclipse|sol and Lunar eclipse|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'''. | ||
Revision as of 17:24, 7 April 2007
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Benjamin Banneker, originally Banna Ka, or Bannakay (November 9, 1731–October 9, 1806) was a free African American mathematician, astronomer, clockmaker, and publisher.
Personal life
Benjamin Banneker was America's first African American scientist. He was born near Ellicot City, Maryland on November 9, 1731, the first of three children to Robert,a freed slave from West Africa and Mary Banneky of English-African descent. Mary was the second of four daughters born to Molly Welsh an English indentured servant who had earned her freedom by 1690. Molly rented a farm, raised corn and tobacco and became a land owner. She purchased and freed two African slaves, one of whom she married. "Bannka" was the son of a Gambian king who was captured by slave traders in Africa. His name, Bannka or Banna Ka, was derived from the Wolof dialect of the Sengal-Gambia region of West Africa and (according to Silvio A. Bedini, The Life of Benjamin Banneker)it connoted a person of sweet or peaceful disposition.
Mary Banneker married Robert, a freed slave from Guinea, an area now known as Nigeria. The family was religious; Robert converted to Christianity and was a member of the Church of England.
Benjamin Banneker learned to read and write from his grandmother, Molly, who encouraged him to practice reading from a large bible she had ordered from England. He attended a one room school house nearby his home where he was instructed by a Quaker schoolmaster. Acquiring a thirst for knowledge Banneker began to educate himself in mathematics becoming intrigued by the working out of arithmetical puzzles.
Banneker's life and fortunes became linked with the Ellicot family, Quakers who migrated from Pennsylvania to Maryland to pioneer the area known today as Ellicot City. The engineering methods and the mechanical workings of the grist mills built by the Ellicot brothers captured Banneker's interest. He soon began to associate with the Ellicots and found himself welcomed in gatherings and discussions at the Ellicot and Company Store. In time he struck up a friendship with George Ellicot, a son of one of the original Ellicot brothers.
George shared Benjamin's fascination with natural science and mathematics and loaned several important books to the elder man which Banneker used to educate himself in surveying and astronomy. The association with the Ellicots complimented his desire to learn new skills and he was hired by Major Andrew Ellicot to assist in the surveying of the District of Columbia.
Retiring from that project due to health problems the aging Banneker devoted his free time to the production of 6 Almanacs which included calculations of celestial phenomena for the years 1792-1797. These were published with the assistance of prominent abolitionists who saw in the talented astronomer a stong argument for the equality of all men regardless of race.
Benjamin Banneker died on October 9, 1806, at age 74 in his log cabin. He never married.
Early Years
In his early 20's Banneker studied the detailed workings of a pocket watch. Such was his genius that he was able to fashion his own time piece, a mechanical clock with carefully crafted wooden movements driven by a system of falling weights. Young Banneker became famous throughout the area. The clock continued to work, striking each hour, for more than 50 years.
At the age of 28, following his father Robert's death, Benjamin Banneker assumed ownership of the family farm and became responsible for his mother and sisters. He farmed tobacco, raised cows and tended behives from which he derived much pleasure. At the age of 32 he acquired his first book, a bible, in which he inscribed the date of purchase, January 4, 1763. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
Champion of civil rights and peace
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.
Following a life journey that would be echoed by others after him including Martin Luther King Jr., and, being largely supported by Caucasians 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 1793, Banneker's Almanac included "A Plan for a Peace Office for the United States." The plan was formulated by Dr. Benjamin Rush and it included the idea of appointing a Secretary of Peace who would be responsible for establishing free schools where reading, writing and arithmetic would be taught as well as morals and the doctrines of religion. The plan went on in great detail painting a picture of universal brotherhood and peace on earth to be promoted through seven points including the building of a special wing on the federal hall where the business of the Secretary of Peace would be conducted. <<Bedini, Silvio. The Life of Benjamin Banneker,1972, 1999>>
Benjamin Banneker Park and Memorial, Washington, DC
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. [1]
In 2004, the D.C. Preservation League listed the park as one of the most endangered places in the District of Columbia. [2] 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.[3] The winning design was to be revealed on November 30, 2006.
Letter to Thomas Jefferson on Racism
"How pitiable it is that although you are so fully convinced of the goodness of the Father of mankind you should go against His will by detaining, by fraud and violence, so many of my brothers under groaning captivity and oppression; that you should at the same time be guilty of the most criminal act which you detest in others."
Popular misconceptions
- Although he is said to be the first person who made the first clock in America and made the plans of Washington D.C this is denied in one of the only biographies of Banneker The Life Of Benjamin Banneker by Silvio Bedini.[4]
- A popular urban legend erroneously 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 cannot 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.[5] 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".[6] Further, 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.[7] [8]
Notes
- ↑ http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/usr_doc/SW_Heritage_Trail_brochure.pdf Brochure: Southwest Heritage Trail
- ↑ http://www.dcpreservation.org/endangered/2004/banneker.html D.C. Preservation League website: Benjamin Banneker Park
- ↑ http://www.bannekermemorial.org/specialevents.htm Washington Interdependence Council's Benjamin Banneker Memorial Prototype Charette
- ↑ Several watch and clockmakers were already established in the colony [Maryland] prior to the time that Banneker made the clock. In Annapolis alone there were at least four such craftsmen prior to 1750. Among these may be mentioned John Batterson, a watchmaker who moved to Annapolis in 1723; James Newberry, a watch and clockmaker who advertised in the Maryland Gazette on July 20, 1748; John Powell, a watch and clockmaker believed to have been indentured and to have been working in 1745; and Powell's master, William Roberts ...[Banneker's departure from the District of Columbia] occurred at some time late in the month of April 1791.... It was not until some ten months after Banneker's departure from the scene that L'Enfant was dismissed, by means of a letter from Jefferson dated February 27, 1792. This conclusively dispels any basis for the legend that after L'Enfant's dismissal and his refusal to make available his plan of the city, Banneker recollected the plan in detail from which Ellicott was able to reconstruct it.
- ↑ Bowling, Kenneth R., Creating the federal city, 1774-1800 : Potomac fever. American Institute of Architects Press, Washington, D.C., 1988
- ↑ http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri001.html Library of Congress' copy of L'Enfant's Plan
- ↑ Bedini, Silvio A., The Life of Benjamin Banneker. Scribner, New York, 1971, c1972. ISBN 0-684-12574-9
- ↑ Arnebeck, Bob, Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790-1800. Madison Books, Lanham. Distributed by National Book Network, c1991. ISBN 0-8191-7832-2
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
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<<Bedini, Silvio A. The Life of Benjamin Banneker, The First African American Man of Science, 1972 first edition. second edition revised and expanded 1999. Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. ISBN 0-938420-59-3 (hardcover) ISBN 0-938420-63-1 (paper)>>
External links
- Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum
- Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum: location, hours, facilities information
- Benjamin Banneker's biography
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. Benjamin Banneker at the MacTutor archive
- [1]
- Benjamin Banneker & Washington DC
- Clock or Watch (First in America)
- The General and The Plan (Bob Arnebeck's homepage)
- Benjamin Banneker Action Figure
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