Benjamin Banneker :: essays research papers

gum benzoin Banneker was born in 1731 near Baltimore. His Grandmother, an Englishwoman, taught him to read and write. For several winters he be a small school open to blacks and whites. There he positive a keen interest in mathematics and science. Later, while farming, Banneker chased his mathematical studies and taught himself astronomy. In 1753, he completed a remarkable quantify. He built it entirely of wood, carving each gear by hand. His provided models were a pocket watch and an old picture 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 upper-case letter to lie out the boundaries of District of Colombia. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson had recommended Banneker to financial aid in this work.From 1791 to 1796, Banneker made all the astronomical and tide calculations and weather predictions for a yearly almanac. Banneker displace Jefferso n a imitation of his first 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 Paris an differentiate of the giving of Negroes. Opponents of slavery in the United States and England also used the almanacs as evidence of blacks abilities.The Publishers of Bannekers almanacs printed contributions by prominent Americans in addition to his material. In the 1793 almanac, for example, the far-famed surgeon and statesman Benjamin Rush proposed the appointment of a U.S. depositary of peace. Banneker himself probably contributed a few proverbs, essays, and poems.I think Benjamin Banneker changed the creative activity with his almanac.