Benjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731 - October 9, 1806) is an African author of almanacs, surveyors, naturalists, and free farmers. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, for African American women and former slaves, Banneker has little formal education and is largely self-taught. He is known as part of a group led by Major Andrew Ellicott who researches the original border of the District of Columbia, the district of the federal capital of the United States.
Banneker's knowledge of astronomy helped him become the author of a series of commercially successful almanacs. He corresponds to Thomas Jefferson, draft of the United States Declaration of Independence, on the topic of slavery and racial equality. Abolitionists and supporters of racial equality promote and praise his works.
Although the fire on the day of Banneker's funeral destroyed many of his papers and belongings, one of the remaining journals and some artifacts is currently available for public viewing. Parks, schools, roads and other tributes have commemorated Banneker for many years since he lived. However, many stories about his life exaggerate or falsify his works.
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Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland to Mary Banneky, a free blacksman, and Robert, a freed slave from Guinea. There are two conflicting accounts about Banneker's family history. Banneker himself and his earliest biographers described him as a man of African descent. None of Banneker's surviving papers describes a white ancestor or identified his grandmother's name.
However, the biographer later argued that Banneker's mother was the son of Molly Welsh, a white-clad maid, and an African slave named Banneka. The first description published about Molly Welsh was based on an interview with his offspring that took place in 1836, long after the deaths of Molly and Benjamin.
Molly might have bought Banneka to help build a farm located near what eventually became Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, west of Baltimore. A biographer states that Banneka may be a member of the Dogon tribe who is reported to have astronomical knowledge. Molly should have been released and married to Banneka, who may have shared her knowledge of astronomy with her. Though born after Banneka's death, Benjamin might gain astronomical knowledge from Molly.
In 1737, Banneker was named at age six on his family's 100-acre (0.40Ã, km 2 ) deed of his family in Patapsco Valley in rural Baltimore County. The rest of his early life was not well documented. As a young teenager, he may have met and befriended Peter Heinrichs, a Quaker who founded a school near the Banneker farm. Quakers are leaders in the anti-slavery movement and supporters of racial equality (see Quaker in the abolitionist movement and Testimony of equality). Heinrichs may have shared his personal library and provided Banneker with his only classroom instruction. Banneker's formal education seemed to end when he was old enough to help on his family farm.
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Famous works
In 1753 at the age of 22, Banneker completed the wooden clock that struck on the clock. She seems to model her watch from a borrowed pocket watch by carving each part to scale. The clock is said to continue working until Banneker's death.
After his father died in 1759, Banneker lived with his mother and sister. In 1768, he signed the Baltimore County petition to move the county seat from Joppa to Baltimore.
In 1772, brothers Andrew Ellicott, John Ellicott and Joseph Ellicott moved from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and bought land along Patapsco Falls near the Banneker farm to build gristmills, where the village of Ellicott's Mills (now Ellicott City) was later developed. Ellicotts are Quakers and share the same views about racial equations as do many of their beliefs. Banneker studied the factory and got to know the owner.
In 1788, George Ellicott, son of Andrew Ellicott, loaned Banneker's books and supplies to begin a more formal astronomical study. Over the next year, Banneker sent George his work counting the solar eclipse.
In 1790, Banneker prepared the ephemeris for 1791, which he hoped would be placed inside the published almanac. However, he can not find a printer that is willing to publish and distribute the almanac. Survey
from the original boundary of District of Columbia
In February 1791, surveyors Major Andrew Ellicott (son of Joseph Ellicott and cousin George Ellicott), had gone at the request of US Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, a survey team in western New York that he had led, hired Banneker as a replacement to assist in the survey the beginning of new federal district boundaries. Formed from the soil along the Potomac River that the states of Maryland and Virginia were handed over to the federal government of the United States in accordance with the federal Residence Act and 1790 subsequent legislation, the territory of the original District of Columbia was a 10-mile square (16 km ) on each side, for a total of 100 square miles (260 km 2 ) (see Washington, DC). Ellicott's team places a rock of limits at or near every mile point along the border of the new capital region (see: Columbia's Original District Boundaries).
The biographer stated that Banneker's duties in the survey consisted mainly of astronomical observations at Jones Point in Alexandria, Virginia, to ascertain the location of the starting point for the survey. They also state that Banneker maintains the clock he uses to connect the points on the ground with the star's position at any given time. However, some have noted that Banneker's actual role in the survey is uncertain, as his involvement in the effort "relies on very little documentation". On April 21, 1791, news reports from the ceremony of endorsement for the first boundary stone (southern capstone) state that Andrew Ellicott "ensured the exact point from which the district's first line to proceed". The news report did not mention Banneker's name.
Banneker left the boundary survey in April 1791 within three months of its inception due to illness and difficulty completing the survey at the age of 59 years. In addition, Andrew Ellicott's sister, Benjamin and Joseph Ellicott, who usually help Andrew, can join the survey at that time. Therefore, Banneker returned to his home near Ellicott's Mills. Andrew Ellicott then completed a boundary survey with the help of his brothers and other team members for the remainder of 1791 and in 1792.
Banneker almanac
After returning to Ellicott's Mills, Banneker made an astronomical calculation predicting the eclipse and conjunction of the planet to be included in the ephemeris for 1792. He placed the ephemeris and subsequent revisions in a series of six-year-old printer-approved almanacs for publication and sale.. Almanacs, some of which appear in several editions during the same year, are printed in at least six cities in four states: Baltimore; Philadelphia; Wilmington, Delaware; Alexandria, Virginia; Petersburg, Virginia; and Richmond, Virginia.
The Baltimore Edition title page from Banneker 1792 Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris states that the publication contains:
Sun and Moon Motifs, Correct Places and Aspects of the Planet, Awakening and Sun Setting, Moon Place & Age, & amp; c. - The Lunations, Conjunctions, Eclipses, Weather Judgments, Festivals, and Other Extraordinary Days; Days to hold the Supreme Court and Circuit of the United States , as well as useful Courts in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. - some useful Tables, and Receipts are valuable. - Selects of Commonplace-Books from Kentucky Philosopher , an American Sage ; with an interesting and entertaining essay, in Prose and Ayat - the whole consists of larger, more pleasing, and useful varieties than the Works of Kinds
in the North America .
In addition to the information on which the title page is described, the almanac contains a tide table for the Chesapeake Bay region. The editions and others record time for high or tide water at Cape Charles and Point Lookout, Virginia, Annapolis and Baltimore, Maryland and other locations. The title page of the edition of his Baltimore almanac in 1795 had a portrait of woodcut from him when he may have appeared, but the later concluded by the author is more likely to be a portrayal of an idealized African American boy.
A Philadelphia edition of the Banneker alpha 1795 contains a long record of the yellow fever epidemic that swept the city in 1793 (see 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia). Written by a committee whose president is the city's mayor, Matthew Clarkson, the account recounts the origins and causes of the epidemic, as well as the range and duration of the event.
The almanac editor 'begins with reference references to Banneker and his race. The 1792 and 1793 editions of his almanac contain copies of the long compliment that James McHenry, a signatory to the US Constitution and a friend described by Banneker, wrote in August 1791.
The introductory edition of Philadelphia's 1795 contains a poem entitled: "Addressed to Benjamin Banneker". This verse begins and ends:
Fate will muse elevate tuneful smoothly,
And singing in the noble praises of Banneker,
Fain will soar in the great wing Fame,
your genius , Banneker is great, to sing;
your talents and your greatness that I will uproot,
Not in excessive pressure,
..............
Long may you stay proof to be picked,
Race African race it has talent too.
And may your genius enlighten the power it has; Tho 'declining properties may still remain; And probably will support us for your last years With your Ephemeris call, Banneker.
An unedged work will be named
And be the monument eternal fame ;
A work that after so long has to adore ,
When Banneker, unfortunately! will no longer!
The reverence writer in the Baltimore edition of 1796 quoted a quatrain and amended the other that an Englishman, Thomas Gray, had been placed in a popular poem first published in 1751 (see Adaptation and parody of Elegy Written on Country Churchyard > i>). The revised verse states:
You also are not proud, blame this If Afric boy genius is unknown,
For Banneker has provoked they can get a name,
Cool, timeless, like yours.
Supported by Andrew, George and Elias Ellicott and promoted by the Society for the Promotion of the Abolition of Slavery Maryland and Pennsylvania, the early edition of the almanac achieved commercial success. After these editions were published, William Wilberforce, William Pitt, Charles James Fox, and other prominent abolitionists praised Banneker and his works in the British House of Commons.
In 1796, Banneker gave the manuscript of one of his almanacs to Suzanna Mason, a member of the Ellicott family who visited his home. In 1836, Mason's daughter wrote a memoir published about her mother's life, her letters and manuscripts. The memoir contains a copy of a poem Mason sent to Banneker shortly after the visit of 1796. Some of the verses state:
But you, a man who is held high,
Looks interesting in the eyes of the world,
On a note now your name is registered,
And the future will be told,
Live a man named Banneker,
An African astronomer.
Banneker Journal
Banneker kept a series of journals containing his notebooks for his astronomical observations, his diaries, and his dream stories. Journals, only one that escaped fire on the day of his funeral, also contained a number of mathematical and puzzle calculations. The surviving journal described in April 1800 recalls from 1749, 1766 and 1783 the emergence of Brood X of the seventeen-year-old magician, Magicicada septendecim , and stated that ".... they may be expected again in 1800 , which is Seventeen years since their third appearance to me. "The journal also notes Banneker's observations of the itchiness and behavior of honeybees.
Political view
A Philadelphia edition of Banneker's school in 1793 contains a copy of a peace request written by English anti-slavery writer William Cowper and others, as well as anti-slavery speeches and writings from Britain and America. The latter includes extracts from speeches William Pitt and Charles James Fox gave to the British House of Commons in 1792, a quote from a poem of 1789 by a British Quaker, Thomas Wilkinson, and a quote from a question in Thomas Jefferson's 1787 Notes on the State of Virginia .
The Almanac of 1793 also contains a copy of the "Peace Plan", for the United States "that Benjamin Rush, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, has written.The plan proposes the appointment of" Secretary of Peace ", describes the power of the Secretary and advocates for federal support and promotion of Christianity. :
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- 1. Let the Secretary of Peace be appointed to lead in this office;...; let him be a true republic and a sincere Christian....
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- 2. Let the power be given to the Secretary to establish and maintain free schools in every city, village and township in the United States;... Let the youth of our country be instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in similar religious doctrines; Christianity must be preferred over others; because it belongs to this religion exclusively to teach us not only to cultivate peace with all people, but to forgive - even more, to love our enemies....
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- 3. Let every family be equipped with a public fee, by the Secretary of this office, with an American edition of the Bible....
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- 4. Let the following sentence be written in gold letter above the door of every house in the United States: The Son of Man Come to the World, Not Destroying the Life of Men, But To Save Them.
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- 5....
Correspondence with Thomas Jefferson
On August 19, 1791, after leaving the territory of the federal capital, Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, who in 1776 had drafted the United States Declaration of Independence and in 1791 served as Secretary of State of the United States (see: List of State Secretaries of the United States). Quoting the language of the Declaration, the letter expresses a plea for justice for African Americans.
To further support this request, Banneker was included in the almanac handwritten manuscript for 1792 containing ephemeris with astronomical calculations. He then placed copies of letters and answers from Jefferson in his journal and in a pamphlet of 1792 printed and sold in Philadelphia, where the printer distributed the almanac edition.
In the letter, Banneker accused Jefferson of using fraud and violence to suppress his slave by saying:
... how pathetic it is to reflect, that you are so fully convinced of the goodness of the Father of mankind, and of the sharing of the same and impartial rights and privileges which he has given them, that you must at the same time resist the mercy his heart, in stifling by deceit and violence so much of the parts of my brothers under the cruel detention and oppression, that you must at the same time be found guilty of the most criminal acts, which you really hate others, in connection with the Selves You.
The letter ended:
And now Lord, I will conclude and subscribe myself with the deepest respect,
Slave your heart most obedient B. Banneker
A British abolitionist, Thomas Day, previously wrote in a 1776 letter published in Boston in 1784:
If there is an absolutely ridiculous object in nature, it is an American patriot, signing a resolution of independence with one hand, and with another brandishing a whip over his betrayed slaves.
Without directly responding to Banneker's allegations, Jefferson replied to Banneker's letter in a series of nuanced statements expressing his interest in advancing the equality of the black American population. Jefferson's answer states:
Philadelphia August 30, 1791.
Tuan, Thailand I thank you for your 19th letter. instant and for the Almanac it contains. no body expects more than I do to see the evidence as you show, that it has been given to our black brethren, a talent equal to other human colors, & amp; that the appearance of their desires is only because of the degraded conditions of their existence in Africa & amp; America. I can add correctly that no body is hoping more to see a good system started to improve the condition of both their bodies & amp; objected to what should, as soon as the powerlessness of their present existence, and other circumstances that can not be ignored, will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, the Secretary of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, and members of the Philanthropist community because I regard it as a document of all colors you have the right to their justification for doubt. who have been comforted from them. I am with great appreciation, Tuan,
You are the most obedt. the humble servant Th. Jefferson
Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, the Marquis de Condorcet, to whom Jefferson sent the almanac of Banneker, was a noted French and abolitionist mathematician who was a member of the French Socia  © ta des Amis des Noirs (Society of Friends of the black skin). It seems that the Academy of Sciences itself does not accept almanacs.
While writing his letter, Banneker informs Jefferson that his 1791 work with Andrew Ellicott on the District Boundary survey has affected his work in 1792 ephemeris and almanacs by stating:
.... And altho I almost refused to make my calculations for the following year, as a result of the time I had given there to take in the Federal Territory by a request from Mr. Andrew Ellicott,....
On the same day he answered Banneker (August 30, 1791), Jefferson sent a letter to the Marquis de Condorcet containing the following paragraphs relating to race, abilities, Banneker almanacs, and working with Andrew Ellicott:
I am happy to tell you that we are now in the United States a Negro, the son of a black man born in Africa, and a black woman born in the United States, who is a very respected mathematician. I got him to be hired under one of our top directors in building a new federal city in Patowmac, & amp; in his spare time interval, while on the job, he makes the Almanac for the next year, which he sends to me in his own handwriting, & amp; which I attached to you. I have seen a very elegant solution of Geometric problems by it. Add to this that he's so precious & respected members of society. He's a free man. I would love to see these examples of moral excellence so multiplied to prove that the desire of talent observed in them is merely the effect of their degraded conditions, and does not proceed from any differences in the structure of the parts in which intelligence depends.
In 1809, three years after Banneker's death, Jefferson expressed a different opinion of Banneker in a letter to Joel Barlow who criticized the "condemnation" that a French opponent, Henri GrÃÆ'Â © goire, wrote in 1808:
the whole is not as big as evidence, for what we know about Banneker. we know he has enough spherical trigonometry to make almanacs, but not without the suspicion of help from Ellicot, whose neighbors & amp; friends & amp; never miss an opportunity to lull him. I have a long letter from Banneker that reminds him to have a very common stature mind.
Death
Banneker never married. Due to decreased sales, its 1779 almanac is the last published printer. After selling most of his houses to Ellicotts and others, he died in his cottage nine years later on October 9, 1806, exactly one month before his 75th birthday. Her chronic alcoholism, which worsens as she ages, may have caused her death.
Obituaries conclude:
Mr. Banneker is a striking example to prove that African descent is susceptible to great mental enhancement and profound knowledge into the mysteries of nature as it does in any country.
An obelisk warning that the Maryland Bicentennial Commission and the State Commission on American History and Culture of Afro were founded in 1977 near an unmarked grave standing on the Mountain yard. The African Methodist Episcopal Church of Gilboa in Oella, Maryland (see Chapel of Mount Gilboa).
Banneker artifact
On the day of his funeral in 1806, a fire burned Banneker's wooden hut to the ground, destroying much of his goods and paper. An Elllicott family member, who still retains the remaining Banneker journal, contributed documents and other Banneker manuscripts to the Maryland Historical Society in 1987. His family also kept some of the things Banneker used after borrowing it from George Ellicott.
In 1996, the descendants of George Ellicott decided to sell at auction some goods, including tables, candlesticks and prints. Although advocates of the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum planned in Oella, Maryland, hope to obtain this and some other items related to Banneker and Ellicotts, a Virginia investment banker won most of the items with a series of bids totaling $ 49,750. The buyer declares that he hopes to store some goods and donate the rest to the museum of American Civil War Memorial planned in Washington, D.C.
In 1997, it was announced that the artifacts would be loaned to Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum in Oella and to the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. Upon receiving the artifacts, Oella's museum placed the table and candlestick into an exhibit.
Mythology and inheritance
A substantial mythology that exaggerates the achievement of Benjamin Banneker has evolved over the two centuries that have passed since his death (see Benjamin Banneker's Mythology). Some such urban legends illustrate Banneker's alleged activities in the Washington, D.C. around the time when he helped Andrew Ellicott in a federal district border survey. Others involve his watch, his almanac and his journals.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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