Life And Accomplishments Of Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was born November 9, 1731 in Ellicott's Mills Maryland. He grew up on a cotton plantation he was the son of a former slave by the name of Robert and his mother Mary both of his parents where ex-slaves giving Banneker freedom from birth. At a young age he was taught to read by his grandmother at the same time he attended a quacker school. He was self-taught for the most part teaching himself literature, history, and mathematics. With such great intelligence he had multiple accomplishments in the near future.
At the age of 22 Benjamin Banneker carved cogs and gears out of wood, creating the striking clock with only a pocket watch as an example and his own calculations he made the first in North American and worked

In 1792 Banneker began a series of Almanacs providing detailed info for farmers and astronomers about moon cycles, weather forecasts, and planting and tides. Banneker's Almanacs where revolutionary being produced by a black man in an age when African Americans were considered incapable of scientific, mathematical or literary accomplishment.

In 1792 Banneker sent a handwritten copy of his first almanac to at the time Virginia secretary of state Thomas Jefferson (about 10 years before he was president). Banneker included a letter to Jefferson stating that Jefferson should take any opportunity to abolish any false ideas or view of African Americans. The conversations between Jefferson and Banneker were one of the first documented examples of the civil rights protest letter in America.
Later Life and Death As Banneker grew older he continued his studies throughout the rest of his life. On October 9, 1806 after Banneker’s morning walk he died in his sleep at the age of 74. On October 11 the day of his funeral service his house caught fire destroying all of his lives work even his acclaimed wooden clock. Benjamin Banneker life is remembered at the Federal Gazette of