None of Banneker's surviving papers describe a white ancestor or identify the name of his grandmother. ![]() ![]() There are two conflicting accounts of Banneker's family history.īanneker himself and his earliest biographers described him as having only African ancestry. The names of parks, schools and streets commemorate him and his works, as do other tributes.īenjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland, to Mary Banneky, a free black woman, and Robert, a freed slave from Guinea who died in 1759. Although a fire on the day of Banneker's funeral destroyed many of his papers and belongings, one of his journals and several of his remaining artifacts survived.īanneker became a folk-hero after his death, leading to many accounts of his life being exaggerated or embellished. Abolitionists and advocates of racial equality promoted and praised Banneker's works. He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson on the topics of slavery and racial equality. He became known for assisting Major Andrew Ellicott in a survey that established the original borders of the District of Columbia, the federal capital district of the United States.īanneker's knowledge of astronomy helped him author a commercially successful series of almanacs. ![]() A landowner, he also worked as a surveyor and farmer.īorn 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. Benjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731 – October 19, 1806) was an African-American naturalist, mathematician, astronomer and almanac author.
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