Book Review: Benjamin Banneker by Charles A. Cerami

Benjamin Banneker by Charles A. Cerami

The life of Benjamin Banneker is a hidden gem in American history. He lived from 1731 to 1806, spending almost his entire life in what is now the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland. He was a free black man, the grandson of immigrants. Molly Welsh was a milkmaid convicted of theft for accidentally kicking over a bucket of milk. Her death sentence was commuted to indentured servitude in the colonies when she proved that she could read. She served her seven years and then became an independent farmer. She bought a slave named Banneka to help with the tobacco farm she was starting in Maryland. She later freed and married Banneka. Benjamin Banneker (there's no clear reason why the name changed) was the eldest son of their daughter Mary. The family farm was on the outskirts of Elkridge Landing, a port serving the Patapsco River area, feeding into the Chesapeake Bay and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. Baltimore was just forming as a major regional port. Benjamin was taught reading at young age and became a voracious reader. Any time he could find something new to read, he would read it. He also loved to look at the stars and to come up with math problems.

As he grew up, he managed the family farm and still took time to read and contemplate the world and even the cosmos. He knew the great horrors experienced by Africans brought to America as slaves and kept a low profile. He became friends with the Ellicotts, a Quaker family that invested heavily in mills near Elkridge Landing, hoping to shift the local economy away from tobacco and to wheat they could mill into flour. Banneker was fascinated by the mill machinery and was able to discuss a wide variety of topics with the Ellicotts, who loaned him many books. At one point, another friend loaned Banneker a pocket watch for a few weeks. Benjamin's natural curiosity led him to open the watch and examine the workings' minute details. He drew diagrams and was able to make a wooden clock on a larger scale but with the same proportions and design as the pocket watch. The clock worked accurately for over fifty years. His mechanical ability was amazing.

As he grew older, he was chosen by Andrew Ellicott to help in surveying the new nation's capital. Thanks to Banneker's astronomical interest, he increased the precision of the surveying team. He was also interested in writing an almanac--a book of astronomical and seasonal information coupled with weather predictions, words of wisdom, and practical advice. His great effort paid off. Many of the local publishers had abolitionists as customers. Those abolitionists encouraged the publishers to take on the almanac as a sign that Africans were just as intellectually capable as Europeans. The almanac was a success and he published additional almanacs in subsequent years.

Banneker also sent his first almanac to Thomas Jefferson with a pointed letter demanding Jefferson be more true to his writings, especially the famous phrase "all men are created equal." Jefferson sent a polite but non-commital response (a standard politician's move), promising to send the almanac on to an academy in France that was also interested in the issue of equality. With both the almanac and the correspondence with Jefferson, Banneker became a much more public figure. His contented life as a gentleman farmer became a little more precarious as occasional threats came to his home.

He died in 1806 and his cabin with almost all of his personal journals and works (including the clock) burned down the day of his funeral. No investigation was made though it's highly probable that pro-slavery bigots wanted to destroy evidence of Banneker's accomplishments. And so he faded into history with only a recent local resurgence in the past forty or fifty years.

This book gives a good overview of his life with the historical context. Many personal details are included and a full picture of the man develops. My only criticism is that the author is admiring to the point of over-enthusiasm. Certainly Banneker was a genius and an inspiring example of a self-made man, but claiming he would have been an Einstein or a Hawking is a higher assessment than the text shows. Even so, Banneker was a great man and deserves to be better known by his fellow countrymen.

Recommended.