why is banjamin banneker influential?

Answer 1

Benjamin Banneker is credited with being America's first black scientist.

Also ...
He became a local celebrity when, at the age of twenty-one, he borrowed a neighbor's pocket watch and re-created each gear out of wood, making a full-size clock.

In 1791, as a direct result of Banneker's correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, President Washington appointed Banneker to a six-person planning team surveying the Territory of Columbia in preparation for the future American capital to be built there. When Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, the project architect, was terminated, he took the only set of plans with him. Banneker was/is credited for recreating L'Enfant's plans from memory. However, there is some dispute about this.

In 1792, Banneker published "Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord, 1792". It sold well, prompting the publishers to issue a second edition soon afterwards. Banneker appreciated the validation of his scientific skill and knew that his work provided evidence that African people could make a valuable contribution to science and humanity.

The 1793 Almanac, which also included Banneker's correspondence with Jefferson, was, as Bedini has written, "one of the most important publications of its time." According to Bedini, Banneker's almanacs were among the first to successfully publicize the cause of abolitionism by presenting "tangible proof of the mental equality of the races."

Banneker also was involved in the anti-slavery movement. He wrote pamphlets and essays. His opinion was well respected by many people opposed to slavery.

Answer 2

Jefferson achieved distinction as an horticulturist, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, author, inventor, and the founder of the University of Virginia, among other roles, was the third President of the United States (1801-09), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States.
Jefferson inherited about 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land and dozens of slaves when he was 14, after the death of his father. He built his home there, which eventually became known as Monticello.

Banneker expressed a vision of social justice and equity that he wished to be adhered to in the everyday fabric of American life. He wrote to the Secretary of State and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, a plea for justice for African Americans, calling on the colonists' personal experience as "slaves" of Britain and quoting Jefferson's own words. To support his plea, Banneker included a copy of his newly published ephemeris(was, traditionally, a table providing the positions of the Sun, the Moon, the planets, asteroids or comets in the sky at a given moment in time; the astrological positions are usually given for either noon or midnight depending on the particular ephemeris that is used) with its astronomical calculations. Jefferson replied to Banneker less than two weeks later in a series of statements asserting his own interest in the advancement of the equality of America's Black population. Jefferson also forwarded a copy of Banneker's Almanac to the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. It was also used in Britain's House of Commons. Benjamin died on October 9, 1806 at age 74 in his log cabin. He never married.

Jefferson was a man of influence, a polymath (person who studies many subjects and is good in all.) He loved freedom and believed if freedom for all. Yet as an owner of slaves he was torn between what he knew to be right and just, and what he grew up with, what was acceptable in society.

Benjamin Banneker was a man very much like Jefferson, he too was a polymath and he too loved freedom for all. His plea to Jefferson never went unnoticed. Banneker had a very profound effect on Jefferson until the day he died.

Answer 3

he established the first school for blacks, i tink. but check in the internet to make sure. His name is spelled Benjamin Banneker.