THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE – THE BLACK SCIENTISTS – BENJAMIN BANNEKER

THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE – THE BLACK SCIENTISTS – BENJAMIN BANNEKER

There are some great questions that has haunted us form the dawn of humanity. Some of which is ; what is out there? The story of modern science of our search to these answers of what is out there in the universe are often taught as a series of eureka moments and the ultimate triumph of the rational mind. But the truth is that power and passion has equally played a significant role. And just like every other history, it was written by someone which can never really be objective. The writer and what is pushing him to write determines what we all perceive. The modern story of advanced astronomy started from Nicholaus Copernicus; a 14^th century Renaissance era mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the sun rather than the earth at the center of the universe, to Johannes Kepler; the 16^th century German mathematician and astronomer that came up with the laws of planetary motion to the legend of modern science; Isaac Newton; the English mathematician, physicist and astronomer who came up with the universal laws of gravity. Conspicuously missing in this astronomical chronology is the African american astronomer and mathematician; Benjamin Banneker who made lots of astronomical calculations and predictions, invented the first striking clock and predicted the Sirius star without any NASA telescope. Benjamin Banneker was not only a contemporary of the Founding Fathers but from the evidence he left, he was the mental equal of Benjamin Franklin, a man who was certainly one of America’s great minds.

 Benjamin Banneker was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, scientist, surveyor, compiler of almanacs, writer and one of the first important African American intellectuals. Born on November 9, 1731, in Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, Benjamin Banneker was the son of an ex-slave named Robert.

Banneker inherited the farm left to him by his grandparents. He expanded the already successful farm, where he grew tobacco. In 1761, at the age of thirty, Banneker constructed a striking wooden clock without having ever seen a clock before (although he had examined a pocket watch). He painstakingly carved the toothed wheels and gears of the clock out of seasoned wood. The clock operated successfully until the time of his death.

As early as 1788, Banneker began to make astronomical calculations, and he accurately predicted a solar eclipse that occurred in 1789. Banneker also developed the concept that distant stars might represent separate solar systems. And he wrote about the star Sirius. This was at a time when there were no telescopes to confirm such a theory, and though a little-known Englishman, Thomas Wright, had written about the idea it was not widely picked up.  Other great thinkers like Copernicus and Galileo had never envisioned what lay beyond our solar system. Benjamin Banneker, however, could envision it. In 1791, Banneker made other astronomical observations which he compiled in his almanac.

In 1791 when Major Andrew Ellicott was chosen to survey the boundaries of the new district where the federal city was to be, he selected Banneker as part of his team. Celestial readings were key to measuring out the boundaries, and Ellicott knew Banneker’s excellent work in this area.  At that time, with no advanced equipment for measuring land, an astronomer used the parallax effect to ascertain distances;  Banneker’s primary job was making astronomical observations for the starting point of the survey and maintaining a clock that was used to relate points on the ground to the positions of the stars at specified times. while working with Andrew Ellicott and others in surveying the land that would become Washington, D.C. That same year, he was the first African-American appointed to the President's Capital Commission.

Banneker’s Almanac

An almanac was to the people of the late 1700s and early 1800s what the internet is to us today.  An almanac contained a calendar that gave important dates, the weather, astronomical and astrological calculations as well as poems and sayings.  For communities near the sea, the timing of the tide levels was also a vital ingredient.  All this information could greatly affect farming and travel for the upcoming year.

Following his work in D.C., Banneker began preparing material for an almanac that was first published in 1792. The full title of the almanac was descriptive as to content: “Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack and the Motions of the Sun and Moon,… “  The title goes on to note that it gives timing of the rising and setting of the sun, eclipses, judgment of the weather, dates of festivals and other remarkable days, days for holding the Supreme Court and circuits courts in the area in addition to “useful Tables and valuable receipts.”

The almanac included information on medicines and medical treatment, and listed tides, astronomical information, and eclipses calculated by Banneker himself. He published the journal annually from 1791 to 1802.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

 As an essayist and pamphleteer, Banneker opposed slavery and advocated civil rights. In 1791 he sent Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. secretary of state, a letter asking Jefferson’s aid in bringing about better conditions for African Americans. In the letter, he questioned the slave owner's sincerity as a "friend to liberty." He urged Jefferson to help get rid of "absurd and false ideas" that one race is superior to another. He wished Jefferson's sentiments to be the same as his, that "one Universal Father . . . afforded us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties." Jefferson responded with praise for Banneker's accomplishments. 

Toward the end of his life, he produced a dissertation on bees, a study of locust-plague cycles and more letters on segregationist trends in America. 

Banneker died in 1806, and on the day of his funeral, the cabin, filled with notebooks recording thoughts of a lifetime, was torched and burned to the ground.  It is hard to think this was accidental as the source of the fire was never discovered.

With the fire, we lost priceless documents that would have done so much to further explain the thought process and scientific knowledge of this self-taught genius.  His wooden clock which had also continued to function flawlessly was also lost in the fire.

The information scholars rely on today to better understand Banneker’s level of knowledge is Banneker’s published almanacs, as well as a few of his notebooks which he had loaned to the Ellicotts.  These were spared from the fire.

Today, Banneker does not have the reputation he should, although the entire world could still learn from his words: "Ah, why will men forget that they are brethren?"

This is benneker, a black man in the 17^th century; a time slavery was at its peak.  Despite the popular prejudices of his times, the man was quite unwilling to let his race hinder in any way his thirst for intellectual development. In 1980, the U.S. Post Office issued a Black Heritage commemorative stamp in his honor.

This man is in all respects is in the same category as Benjamin franklin, and his father was a slave. Which means that he could as well be related to you. If we did it before, we can do even more!!

KULENGA RENAISSANCE SERIES

THE BLACK SCIENTISTS