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Benjamin BannekerBenjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731 - October 9, Maryland. He was an African-American astronomer, clockmaker, and publisher and was instrumental in surveying the District of Columbia. Benjamin Banneker's mother was Mary Banneky. His maternal grandmother, Molly Welsh, was accused of stealing milk and sent from England to America as punishment. This was her sentence after it had been commuted from death. She became the owner of a farm and married one of her slaves, whom she freed. Mary was the daughter produced from this union. Robert was the name of Benjamin's father; his original family name was Banna Ka, or Bannakay. Benjamin's father, Robert Bannakay, was notable for having built a series of dams and watercourses that successfully irrigated the family farm where Banneker lived most of his life. Banneker 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, Benjamin had to end his formal education. At age 21, Banneker's life was changed when he saw a neighbor's patent pocket watch. He borrowed the watch, took it apart to draw all its pieces, then reassembled it and returned it running to its owner. 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 40 years. This event provided the impetus to turn him from farming to watch and clock making. One customer was Joseph Ellicott, a surveyor who had to have a very accurate timepiece to make correct calculations of the locations of stars used to locate the surveyor's position on earth. Ellicott was impressed with his work, and lent him books on mathematics and astronomy. His study of astronomy, beginning at age 58, enabled him to make the calculations to predict solar and lunar eclipses and to compile an ephemeris for his Benjamin Banneker's Almanac, which he published from 1792 through 1797. He became known as the Sable Astronomer. In 1791, he was hired to assist brothers Andrew and Joseph Ellicott to work with French architect Pierre L'Enfant by surveying the Federal District to lay out the new capital of the United States. Also in 1791 Banneker wrote to Secretary of State, and author of the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson, with an eloquent plea for justice for African Americans, calling on the colonists' personal experience as "slaves" of Britain and quoting Jefferson's own words. At that time African Negroes were thought to be an inferior race, not able to undertake the full responsibilities of citizenship. As a subtle hint of the capabilities of his people, Banneker included a copy of his newly published almanac with its astronomical calculations. Jefferson acknowledged Banneker's intellectual achievements, but did not help to abolish slavery. Banneker's almanac helped convince many Americans that African-Americans were not intellectually inferior to whites. Benjamin Banneker
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