Benjamin Banneker :: essays research papers

Benjamin Banneker was born in 1731 near Balti more than. His Grandmother, an Englishwoman, taught him to read and write. For some(prenominal) winters he attended a small school open to blacks and whites. in that location he developed a keen interest in maths and science. Later, while farming, Banneker pursued his mathematical studies and taught himself astronomy. In 1753, he completed a remarkable clock. He built it entirely of wood, carving each slope by hand. His only models were a pocket watch and an old project of a clock. The clock kept almost perfect time for more than fifty years.In 1791, Banneker served as assistant to Major Andrew Ellicott, the surveyor appointed by President George Washington to lie out the boundaries of District of Colombia. Secretary of invoke Thomas Jefferson had recommended Banneker to help in this work.From 1791 to 1796, Banneker made all the astronomical and heave calculations and weather predictions for a yearly almanac. Banneker direct Jeffe rson a copy of his premier almanac. With it he sent a letter in which he called for the abolition of slavery and a liberal attitude toward blacks. Bannekers skills impressed Jefferson greatly. Jefferson sent a copy of the almanac to the Royal Academy of Sciences in capital of France an evidence of the talent of Negroes. Opponents of slavery in the United States and England also use the almanacs as evidence of blacks abilities.The Publishers of Bannekers almanacs printed contributions by prominent Americans in concomitant to his material. In the 1793 almanac, for example, the famous surgeon and statesman Benjamin Rush proposed the battle of a U.S. secretary of peace. Banneker himself probably contributed a few proverbs, essays, and poems.I gauge Benjamin Banneker changed the world with his almanac.