Benjamin Banneker

Uncommon card · No. 100939

Benjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731 – October 19, 1806) was an American naturalist, mathematician, astronomer and almanac author. A landowner, he also worked as a surveyor and farmer. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, to a free African-American mother and a father who had formerly been enslaved, Banneker had little or no formal education and was largely self-taught. He became known for assisting Major Andrew Ellicott in a survey that established the original borders of the District of Columbia, the federal capital district of the United States. Banneker's knowledge of astronomy helped him author a commercially successful series of almanacs. He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson on the topics of slavery and racial equality. Abolitionists and advocates of racial equality promoted and praised Banneker's works. Although a fire on the day of Banneker's funeral destroyed many of his papers and belongings, one of his journals and several of his remaining artifacts survived. Banneker became a...

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