Banneker, Benjamin

1731-1806 · Contribution: 1791-1797

Astronomer, mathematician, and almanac author

Almanac authorship; wooden clock construction; land surveying

Science & Medicine — collage image
Science & Medicine

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Quick facts

Born
1731, Baltimore County, Maryland
Active since
1753
Category
Science & Medicine
Best known for
One of the earliest known African American scientists

Impact on the world

A free Black man in a slaveholding nation, Banneker demonstrated Black intellectual achievement to a skeptical era, and his letter to Jefferson stands as an early argument for equality grounded in his own accomplishments.

Sources

  1. Encyclopædia Britannica

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