Biography benjamin banneker
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Benjamin Banneker
American scientist, surveyor and farmer (–)
Benjamin Banneker | |
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Library of Congress | |
Born | November 9, Baltimore County, Province of Maryland, British America |
Died | October 19, () (aged74) Oella, Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Othernames | Benjamin Bannaker |
Occupation(s) | almanac author, surveyor, farmer |
Parents |
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Benjamin Banneker (November 9, October 19, ) 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 s
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Benjamin Banneker
Who Was Benjamin Banneker?
A free Black man who owned a farm near Baltimore, Benjamin Banneker was largely self-educated in astronomy and mathematics. The 18th century intellectual used his knowledge to create a series of almanacs in the s. He also helped survey territory for the construction of the American capital city, Washington D.C. An early civil rights advocate, Banneker exchanged letters with Thomas Jefferson, politely challenging the then-Secretary of State to do what he could to ensure racial equality. Banneker died at age 74 in October
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Benjamin Banneker
BORN: November 9,
DIED: October 9,
BIRTHPLACE: Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Scorpio
Early Life and Education
Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, , in Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland—now known as Ellicott City. He was the son of an ex-slave named Robert and his wife, Mary Banneky. Mary was the daughter of an Englishwoman named Molly Welsh, a former
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Rubenstein Center Scholarship
This article is part of the Slavery in the President’s Neighborhood initiative. Explore the Timeline
Benjamin Banneker, a free African-American man living in a slave state in the eighteenth century, never knew the weight of iron shackles or the crack of an overseer’s whip. A native of Baltimore County, Maryland, his experience diverged from those of most African Americans living in the early United States. He received a formal education during his youth, maintained his property and farm as an adult, and parlayed his intellectual gifts into national prestige. Despite his many accomplishments, however, Banneker was forced to navigate the same racial prejudices that African Americans often faced in both slave and free states.
In many ways, his story is an historical anomaly. He assisted with the initial survey of Washington, D.C., published abolitionist material south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and engaged with some of the country’s founders in a way n