Benjamin Banneker, born November 9, 1731 in Baltimore County, Maryland, was a self-taught man and excelled in fields of astronomy, farming, mathematics, engineering, and land surveyor. When he was 21, he manufactured a wooden clock that struck on the hour, using only a pocket watch as guidance. The clock continued to chime until his death.
In 1791, Thomas Jefferson (then US Secretary of State) asked Major Andrew Ellicott to survey the area that would become Washington, DC. Ellicott hired Banneker to assist in the initial survey of the district's boundaries.
Afterwards, he returned to Ellicott's Mills (now Ellicott City) and began making astronomical calculations that predicted eclipses and planetary conjunctions. He published his almanac in 1792. the first in a six-year series, printed and distributed among the northeast US.
In August 1791, Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, quoting language in the Declaration of Independence (written by Jefferson), express a plea for justice for African-Americans. He accused Jefferson of using fraud and violence to oppress his slaves.
Jefferson did not respond directly to Banneker's accusations but expressed support for the advancement of his" black brethren". He said of Banneker's almanac:
"...because I considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them."
This correspondence is considered one of the earliest examples of a plea for civil rights.
Banneker died in October 1806. On the day of his funeral, a mysterious fire burned down his log cabin, destroying almost all of his life's work.
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