Inventors and Scientists: BenjaminBanneker

TOP: Cover image: Benjamin Banneker - with biographical paragraphs. By Charles Henry Alston. TOP MIDDLE: Image of

slaves sale during the 19th century. BOTTOM MIDDLE: Image of Andrew Ellicott’s plan for Washington, D.C., 1792.

BOTTOM: Image of title page of an edition of Ban-neker’s 1792 almanac. Images: Photo: Big History Project

Synopsis: Benjamin Banneker was a mathematician, astronomer, and polymath — a

person of wide-ranging learning. He is widely regarded as one of the first African-

American scientists and a gifted figure during the Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment.

Indentured Servitude, And Slavery

The lives of Benjamin Banneker and his family reflect the human thirst for knowledge, even

in the face of tough circumstances. Banneker’s grandmother was named Molly Welsh. She

was a lower-class Englishwoman from Devon, England. Like many in the agrarian era,

Molly was very poor and had to work as a laborer to keep herself fed and sheltered from

day to day. She worked as a milkmaid. In 1683, she accidentally spilled a bucket of milk.

Molly’s employer did not believe her and accused her of stealing the milk so she could sell

it herself. Molly was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to death. In those days, even

petty theft carried a death sentence, under what later would become known as “the Bloody

Code.” However, regardless of what the law said officially, in many cases the death

sentence was reduced to lesser punishments.

By Big History Project, adapted by Newsela staff on 06.15.16

Word Count 2,776

In the seventeenth century, the English were still struggling to find people to work in the

colonies overseas. The judge ruled that if Molly could prove she was literate, she would be

sentenced to seven years of indentured servitude in the colonies instead. Molly was able

to read. That was rare for the lower classes at that time, and even rarer for women. She

promptly read several passages from the Bible and was sent off to the colonies.

An indentured servant is someone who is forced by law to work for an employer for a

certain amount of time. They cannot leave their job without being punished. In the

seventeenth century, many English people came to the Americas as indentured servants.

Molly arrived in Maryland and spent the next seven years working on a tobacco farm.

After an indentured servant completed their years of service, they were given land and

supplies to start a farm of their own. The English government used the former indentured

servants to help colonize the vast lands of America as quickly as possible.

Molly was given 50 acres of land (200,000 square meters) to start life as a farmer.

However, managing a huge tobacco farm is difficult for one person to do on their own. She

could have hired help, but there was a lack of workers in seventeenth-century America.

The other source of labor was the inhumane practice of slavery. Molly went to the docks

and bought two slaves to help her on her farm.

One of the slaves was named Banneka. He had a proud and dignified disposition, and he

disliked working with his hands. Banneka was a prince of the Dogon people of West Africa

who had been captured in an enemy raid and sold to European slavers. He brought with

him to the Americas a fine intellect and the astounding agricultural knowledge that made

the Dogon the envy of their neighbors in West Africa

Working to make the tobacco farm flourish, Molly and Banneka gradually learned each

other's languages. Eventually, they fell in love. Molly freed Banneka and promptly married

him. By doing this, she was taking a big risk — by marrying a slave, it was possible under

the law that she could also be considered a slave.

In later life, Molly was walking in town with her children, when a crowd formed around her

asking “who they belong to.” Molly did not want to risk her or her children’s freedom so she

lied: “they are my slave’s children.” For generations, the controversy over her marriage to

Banneka remained a threat to the freedom and land of the entire family.

Molly and Banneka were extremely intelligent people who turned their farm into a success.

Due to the inequalities of the time, they were limited in how they could share their

knowledge with the wider world. The human exchange of learning has been crucial to our

advancement throughout human history — from stone tools to skyscrapers. Molly and

Banneka are just two examples of how inequalities and prejudice can slow down the

collective learning of humanity.

Molly was a former servant and the victim of a harsh justice system. Banneka was a prince

of a proud agricultural people in West Africa, ripped from his home and sold into slavery.

Yet unlike many with similar tragic stories, both were able to beat the odds. Molly escaped

death at the hands of a corrupt justice system and Banneka won back his freedom.

Many other potential innovators in human history were not so lucky. We can never know

what they might have contributed to our collective pool of knowledge.

Molly and Banneka had four daughters. The eldest, Mary, was born in 1700. She grew into

a tall, beautiful, and very sensible woman. She did not marry for a long time. She could not

marry a slave, because that would likely make her a slave as well. Eventually, she married

Robert, an African who was abducted from Guinea. His story is a bit hazy in the sources.

In one version, Robert was bought by Molly and Banneka and freed once they noticed he

loved their daughter. In another version, Robert was taken from Guinea and escaped

slavery several times. Eventually, he was sold to a planter, who freed him, and then he

made his way to Baltimore County. In any case, Mary and Robert married as free people,

and took the last name Bannaky.

A Truly Gifted Child

Robert and Mary also proved to be knowledgeable and successful farmers, and they

made enough money to continue buying more land. In 1731, they had a son — Benjamin.

Banneka had died in the 1720s, but Molly took a keen interest in educating young

Benjamin. She taught him to read and passed on the African farming techniques of

Benjamin’s grandfather. Benjamin grew up to be quiet, intelligent, and well-spoken. As a

child, he could quote long passages from literature, to the astonishment of the locals who

met him. By age 6, Benjamin could do basic accounting for the farms of his parents and

nearby neighbors. As smart as his parents and grandparents were, Benjamin was a truly

gifted child.

Robert continued to be successful. In 1737, he bought an additional 100 acres of land,

putting his name and 6-year-old Benjamin’s name on the deed. Robert was ensuring that

Benjamin would inherit the farm without any trouble. The farm was up in the hills, far away

from too many neighbors. It gave the family a quiet life and a great deal of privacy.

Benjamin continued to progress as a gifted child. He impressed a Quaker farmer named

Peter Heinrich, who was starting up a school in the area. In his year or two at school,

Benjamin quickly surpassed his teacher’s skills and began to plan his own lessons. Still, he

soon stopped formal schooling and started working full-time on the tobacco farm. Heinrich

still took a keen interest in his education, however, and the school loaned many books to

Benjamin. From this point forward till the end of his life, Benjamin was largely self-taught.

Benjamin studied classical history and developed an eloquent writing style. But his real

passion was for the sciences and mathematics. Benjamin would create complex math

problems for himself and then puzzle over them until he solved them. With only a few

books, Benjamin taught himself algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and mechanical

engineering.

As his father, Robert, got older, Benjamin (now using the last name Banneker) began to

take over more and more work on the farm. By this time, Benjamin had already become a

mathematician, scientist and polymath. In the 1750s, when Benjamin was 22, a man

named Josef Levi visited the farm from England. Josef had a watch, which was a rare sight

in those days. Most people told time by the position of the Sun in the sky. Benjamin was

fascinated by it. Josef lent it to him, intending to get it back when he returned from

England. Unfortunately, he died at sea and never returned. Benjamin took the watch apart,

sketched it, and figured out exactly how it worked. He then took some hardwood and

began carving out copies of the watch’s parts. Benjamin then assembled a clock of his

own — the first clock in U.S. history made entirely of materials from America. Benjamin’s

clock worked perfectly for 50 years, and he often repaired all sorts of clocks and watches

for his neighbors.

In 1759, Benjamin’s father, Robert, died and Benjamin began to run the farm himself. In his

spare time, he continued to read, played flute and violin, and read letters for his illiterate

white neighbors. He never married.

If Benjamin had been born just 100 years later, he might have had the opportunity to

attend school or university. Who knows what contributions he might have made in science

and mathematics? During his life, the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution were in full

swing in Europe and America, but Benjamin’s circumstances made it difficult for him to

contribute to the pool of human knowledge.

From the age of 28 to the time he was 59, Benjamin lived the life of a farmer and private

scholar in Baltimore County. He lived through the American Revolution and was moved by

the calls for liberty, equality, and freedom from tyranny. He also shared the intense thirst for

knowledge that marked the Age of Enlightenment.

Watching The Stars

Meanwhile, in 1772, the Ellicott brothers moved onto the land next to Benjamin’s. They

were from Pennsylvania, of European descent. The Ellicotts struck up a long-lasting

friendship with Benjamin. In 1788, the Ellicotts gave Benjamin a couple of books on

astronomy and some equipment. Thus began Benjamin’s most profound journey into the

scientific realm.

Continuing to teach himself, Benjamin worked tirelessly on his astronomical calculations. In

1789, he accurately predicted that an eclipse would occur on April 14, beating the

predictions of many of his peers.

In 1790, Benjamin retired from farming. He sold his land to the Ellicotts in exchange for

some money and an agreement that he could spend the rest of his life living in his log

cabin. Benjamin was finally able to dedicate all his time to his studies.

He began sleeping during the day so he could watch the stars at night. He built a shed

and carved out a skylight in the roof, turning the shed into a makeshift observatory. Using

advanced trigonometry, Benjamin made accurate tables and calculations.

Meanwhile, George Washington was making plans to move the capital of the young United

States to what would be named Washington, D.C. Andrew Ellicott hired Benjamin to work

on a survey team that would lay down the borders for the new capital. The team used the

positions of the stars to accurately survey the land to create the borders. From February to

April 1791, Benjamin’s job was to note star movements and pass the information on to the

survey team. Using his photographic memory, Benjamin also helped in the drawing of

detailed maps and blueprints.

Benjamin came from humble circumstances, but his contributions to the pool of knowledge

were far-reaching. He calculated the timing of the tides, the time of sunrise and sunset

throughout the year, the phases of the Moon, the timing of eclipses, predictions for bad

winters and seasonal changes, and when pests would be likely to return. He published his

calculations in an almanac, along with tips on how to plant crops, medicinal advice, and

some inspiring quotations from literature.

Almanacs were very important to farmers and sailors at that time. It was a world without

clocks, and many people’s livings depended on knowledge of the weather, the tides, and

the cycles of the Sun. In the eighteenth century, many people owned just two books: a

Bible and an almanac.

Benjamin first published his almanac in 1792 and continued to publish them annually until

1797. They were an immediate success, and won him a lot of admiration. His almanacs

sold widely in the United States, and a few copies even made it over to Europe. His most

popular feature was the tide table for the Chesapeake Bay region, bordered by Virginia,

Delaware, and Maryland. Many of his competitors did not include one. Benjamin’s other

calculations were often seen as more accurate than his competitors’ as well.

A striking moment in Benjamin’s life was his decision to send a letter and a copy of his first

almanac to Thomas Jefferson. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson had written

that all men are created equal and endowed with certain God-given rights: life, liberty and

the pursuit of happiness.

Benjamin found it troubling that a man who advocated for liberty would own slaves. He

wrote to Jefferson:

"We are a race of beings, who have long labored under the abuse and censure of the

world; we have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt. However diversified in

situation or color, we are all of the same family."

The modern scientific story of humanity proves he was correct.

He sent his almanac to Jefferson to prove that people of African descent had minds as

capable as anyone else’s. In this diplomatic but passionate letter, Benjamin argued:

"Sir, pitiable it is to reflect that…in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of

my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same

time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others."

Benjamin considered himself lucky but he was well aware of the suffering of others. At the

time, it is estimated there were “islands” of 8,000 free African-Americans in Maryland, with

about 100,000 slaves in the same area. It would be more than 50 years before

emancipation ended slavery.

Benjamin’s letter was one of the first in an exchange of letters with Thomas Jefferson,

making Benjamin one of the first African-Americans to correspond with a government

official. Jefferson responded sympathetically to Benjamin, in the careful way of a politician.

He promised to send Benjamin’s almanac to the National Academy of Sciences in Paris.

The head of the academy, Condorcet, was a leading figure in the Enlightenment. However,

this letter received no reply.

Because of his high intelligence and many talents, Benjamin Banneker became famous in

his time. He lived in the world during an important era for science and rational thought.

Without the wide-scale discrimination of his time, he likely would have been ever more

famous. His talent was profound — he reached astronomical conclusions well before his

time. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest scientific minds of the eighteenth century.

If he had been allowed to pursue his talents fully, Benjamin could have make huge

contributions to astronomy and the study of many other areas of the natural world. Instead,

he lived the majority of his life as a tobacco farmer and private scholar. His legacy went

largely unrecognized until about 50 years after his death, and he was only fully recognized

in the 1970s.

On October 9, 1806, while taking a walk with a friend, Benjamin said he felt ill and went

home to sleep, where he died peacefully. It is a mystery why his cabin burned down on the

day of his funeral, destroying many of his journals and notes. This was a great loss not only

to our history of Benjamin himself, but also to the knowledge that could have been useful

to his peers.

Benjamin’s obituary in the Federal Gazette, three weeks after his death, said:

"Mr. Banneker is a prominent instance to prove that a descendant of Africa is susceptible

of as great mental improvement and deep knowledge into the mysteries of nature as that of

any other nation."

Benjamin Banneker leaves several legacies. He is widely recognized as one of the first

African-American scientists. He serves as an inspiration for the many African-Americans

who followed him, working at the forefront of the natural sciences and contributing

significantly not only to American history but to the ever-growing pool of human

knowledge.

Finally, Benjamin, his parents, and grandparents, are proof that corruption, prejudice, and

intolerance can rob a society of valuable contributions to collective learning. When these

restrictions are lifted and people are provided with an opportunity to contribute, humanity

can progress by leaps and bounds. Every human being is a potential innovator. Today, we

live in a world of 7 billion potential innovators, but too many of them still suffer inequalities

and hardships. The story of Benjamin Banneker is an important one to keep in mind.

Quiz

1 Select the excerpt from the “A truly gifted child” that BEST illustrates Benjamin's intellectual

curiosity.

(A) Banneka had died in the 1720s, but Molly took a keen interest in educating

young Benjamin. She taught him to read and passed on the African farming

techniques of Benjamin’s grandfather.

(B) Still, he soon stopped formal schooling and started working full-time on the

tobacco farm. Heinrich still took a keen interest in his education, however,

and the school loaned many books to Benjamin.

(C) But his real passion was for the sciences and mathematics. Benjamin would

create complex math problems for himself and then puzzle over them until

he solved them. With only a few books, Benjamin taught himself algebra,

geometry, trigonometry, and mechanical engineering.

(D) In 1759, Benjamin’s father, Robert, died and Benjamin began to run the farm

himself. In his spare time, he continued to read, played flute and violin, and

read letters for his illiterate white neighbors. He never married.

2 Read the following excerpt.

He sent his almanac to Jefferson to prove that people of African

descent had minds as capable as anyone else’s. In this diplomatic but

passionate letter, Benjamin argued:

"Sir, pitiable it is to reflect that … in detaining by fraud and violence so

numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel

oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that

most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others."

Which inference can MOST clearly be drawn from the excerpt above?

(A) Benjamin found it difficult to respect Jefferson as a leader.

(B) Benjamin was solely focused on his educational pursuits.

(C) Benjamin was invested in issues of equality and justice.

(D) Benjamin was complacent and fully satisfied with his life.

3 Read the following paragraph from the article.

Without the wide-scale discrimination of his time, he likely would have

been ever more famous. His talent was profound — he reached

astronomical conclusions well before his time. He is undoubtedly one

of the greatest scientific minds of the eighteenth century.

Which words in the paragraph help to convey Banneker's significance as a scientific figure?

(A) discrimination, famous, minds

(B) profound, undoubtedly, greatest

(C) talent, astronomical, minds

(D) wide-scale, conclusions, century

4 Read the following sentence from the article.

Molly was a former servant and the victim of a harsh justice system.

What the the author's use of the word “victim” portray about Molly?

(A) She had an unhappy life.

(B) She was treated unfairly.

(C) She did not understand why she was in trouble.

(D) She had been mistaken for someone else.