Author: John Latrobe

Publisher:

Published: 2017-11-05

Total Pages: 38

ISBN-13: 9781979453493

"When he published his first Almanac, Banneker was fifty-nine years old, and had high respect paid to him by all the scientific men of the country, as one whose colour did not prevent his belonging to the same class, so far as intellect went, with themselves...." John H. B. Latrobe (1803-1891) was an author, attorney, artist, and inventor. He became central in the move to colonize Liberia with former slaves from the U.S.. He was a famous author and cultural figure, as well as founder of the Maryland Historical Society. In 1845 he published "Memoir of Benjamin Banneker." Benjamin Banneker (1731 - 1806) was a free African American almanac author, surveyor, naturalist and farmer. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, to a free African American woman and a former slave, Banneker had little formal education and was largely self-taught. He is known for being part of a group led by Major Andrew Ellicott that surveyed the borders of the original District of Columbia, the federal capital district of the United States. Banneker's knowledge of astronomy helped him author a commercially successful series of almanacs. He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the United States Declaration of Independence, on the topics of slavery and racial equality. Abolitionists and advocates of racial equality promoted and praised his works. After Banneker sent his almanac to Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson made the following reply: "Sir,-I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th instant, and for the almanac it contained. Nobody wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colours of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing only to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa and America. I can add with truth, that no one wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition both of their body and mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circumstances which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and member of the Philanthropic Society; be. cause I considered it a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them. I am, with great esteem, sir, your most obedient servant, Tho. Jefferson."