Why was Benjamin Banneker so special in African American History?

Answer 1

In 1753, he borrowed a pocket watch from a well-to-do neighbor; he took it apart and made a drawing of each component, then reassembled the watch and returned it, fully functioning, to its owner.

From his drawings Banneker then proceeded to carve, out of wood, enlarged replicas of each part. Calculating the proper number of teeth for each gear and the necessary relationships between the gears, he constructed a working wooden clock that kept accurate time and struck the hours for over 50 years. (It was also the first carved clock ever in the U.S.)

At age 58, Banneker began the study of astronomy and was soon predicting future solar and lunar eclipses. He compiled the ephemeris, or information table, for annual almanacs that were published for the years 1792 through 1797. "Benjamin Banneker's Almanac" was a top seller from Pennsylvania to Virginia and even into Kentucky.

In 1791, Banneker was a technical assistant in the calculating and first-ever surveying of the Federal District, which is now Washington, D.C.

The "Sable Astronomer" was often pointed to as proof that African Americans were not intellectually inferior to European Americans. Thomas Jefferson himself noted this in a letter to Banneker.

Hope that helps! :)

Answer 2

There is an old myth among blacks that he laid out the plans for Washington D.C., this however is false and historians have debunked this myth long ago. Pierre-Charles L'Enfant created the layout of Washington DC. Banneker assisted Andrew Ellicott in the survey of the federal territory, but played no direct role in the actual planning of the city. The story of Banneker reconstructing the city design from memory after L'Enfant ran away with the plans (with the implication that the project would have failed if not for Banneker) has been debunked by historians.

From one site we read:

Legend has it that Benjamin Banneker reconstructed Pierre-Charles L'Enfant's Washington DC design from memory after L'Enfant ran off with the plans. Banneker biographer Silvio Bedini argues that the story cannot be true, since Banneker left the project long before L'Enfant did:

[Banneker's departure from the District of Columbia] occurred at some time late in the month of April 1791.... It was not until some ten months after Banneker's departure from the scene that L'Enfant was dismissed, by means of a letter from Jefferson dated February 27, 1792. This conclusively dispels any basis for the legend that after L'Enfant's dismissal and his refusal to make available his plan of the city, Banneker recollected the plan in detail from which Ellicott was able to reconstruct it.

Silvio Bedini, Life of Benjamin Banneker, (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1999) p. 136

Historian Bob Arnebeck, author of Through A Fiery Trial and other Washington DC historical literature, cites more evidence against the story:

While Benjamin Banneker helped Ellicott survey the district line in 1791, the story about Banneker recalling L'Enfant's plan from memory, so that the plan could be engraved after L'Enfant quit, is not true. Andrew Ellicott's letter to the commissioners [shows] that it was his brother Benjamin Ellicott, not Benjamin Banneker, who helped him prepare a map of the city for engravers after L'Enfant refused his use of the original plan.

Source: Bob Arnebeck's homepage (accessed 9/07/2003).

According to Arnebeck, "There is no evidence that Banneker contributed anything to the design of the city."

Answer 3

We have black history month one month out the year and because the other 11 months are white history month. We have black colleges because there was a time when we weren't accepted into white colleges. And please many ethnicity's are discriminated against today, they just cover it up a lot better. So its not the past. (There are still high schools in the south that have segregated proms) And yes we have that word, if u want a word make one up and use it. And when black jokes are used you get beat up because we defend ourselves. Don't dish it out if you can't take the consequences.

Answer 4

He was a mathematician and an astronomer. One of the first African American scientists.