A MAN OF MANY FIRSTS
In 1753, Benjamin
Banneker engineered the first striking clock made entirely of indigenous
American parts . This invention marked the advent of his rise to fame as people
would travel from far and near to witness his remarkable invention. Made
entirely of hand carved wood parts and pinions, the clock struck on the hour
for over 50 years
- Banneker was
the first to track the 17 year locust cycle, a valuable revelation to
farmers enabling them to prepare for attacks by locusts on their crops.
- Banneker was
among the first scientific farmers to employ crop rotation and water
irrigation techniques. He enjoyed eviable results as a tobacco farmer,
and harvested his own food crop.
- Banneker was
among the first Americans, and the first African-American, to publish
almanacs , a valuable tool in an agricultural economy. His almanacs were
publicly sold from 1792 to 1799, and did quite well.
- Banneker was
the first high profile Black Civil Rights leader . He risked life and
limb to work with the French and American Abolitionists of the day,
nearly a century prior to Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and
Sojourner Truth. He voiced opposition to slavery and the execution and
oppression of Native Americans at a time when Africans were being brought
to the shores of America en masse as slaves . Most of the Founding
Fathers that Banneker worked with on the Federal City project were slave
owners.
- Banneker was
the first scientist to study the relativity of time and space, and his
revelations on the topic preceded Einstein's Theory of Relativity by two
centuries.
- Banneker was
the first to disclose in his writings that the Star of Sirius is two
stars rather than one. His hypothesis was not confirmed until the event
of the Hubble Telescope two centuries later at NASA.
- Banneker was
the first American scientist to suggest that sentient beings perhaps
lived on other planets, a topic barely touched upon in the 18th century.
- Banneker was a
member of the first presidential appointed team charged with the establishment
of the nation's capitol. His astronomical calculations and
implementations played a critical role is establishing points of
astronomical significance in the nation's capitol, including the location
of the 16th Street Meridian, Boundary Stones, White House, Capitol and
Treasury Building.
- Banneker worked
as Assistant to Major Andrew Ellicott, America's Geographer
General, thereby serving as a critical member of the team of the
first presidential commission. In this capacity, he provided the astronomical
calculations for the project, and assisted in the reconstruction of the
plans for laying out the streets of the nation's capitol. He and Major
Ellicott both surveyed the area of, and configured the final layout for,
the placement of major governmental buildings, boulevards and avenues as
drawn for the map for the nation's capitol, producing the finished
document commonly deferred to as the L'Enfant Plan.
The actual L'Enfant Plan was the result of their
work in recreating the draft of the document initially worked on by
L'Enfant, Thomas Jefferson and President Washington. Contrary to popular
belief, the L'Enfant Plan was not produced by
Major Charles L'Enfant, but was named for L'Enfant at the behest of
President George Washington in honor of L'Enfant having provided the
preliminary vision for the layout of the nation's capitol.
- Banneker was
the author of the first publicly documented protest letter. The letter
was written to then Secretary of State , Thomas Jefferson , denouncing
the Bill of Rights as disingenuous. Banneker questioned the rationale of
the imperialistic position taken by the Founding Fathers, especially in
light of their rebellion against the tyranny imposed on them by England
as settlers seeking a better life in America.
- Banneker, in
his debut almanac of 1792 , was the first to recommend the establishment
of a U.S. Department of Peace. It
wasn't until nearly two hundred years later that theU.S.
Institute of Peace was established by Congressional
authorization in 1984. On their website, at www.usip.org,
the organization acknowledges Banneker for his role as the pioneering
agent of this idea and states:
The first formal proposal for the establishment of an
official U.S. government peace institution dates to 1792. The product of
efforts by architect and publisher Benjamin Banneker and physician and educator
Dr. Benjamin Rush. The proposal called for establishing a "Peace
Office" on equal footing with the War Department -- noting the importance
to the welfare of the United States of "an office for promoting and
perserving perpetual peace in our country.
- Benjamin
Banneker's legacy of contributions to America and the world continues to
benefit society, even in terms of modern day inventions as he was the
creator of what is popularly called the "Reverse Mortgage."
Upon his return home from working as Chartist, Surveyor and Designer of
the nation's capital, at or around age 60, Banneker wanted to free up his
time from having to farm to eke out living. In response to this need, he
devised a formula for a Living Trust type stipend arrangement with his
friends, and colleagues, the Ellicott's. In his propositon to them, he
offered his homestead estate as collateral, based on a mortuary table he
devised which projected how long he was likely to live, taking into
account the value of his estate, and proposed that he receive a monthly
allowance for life from them in exchange for their taking sole and/or
partial ownership of his property upon his death. He struck a contractual
agreement with them based on these terms. Today, this type of legal
agreement is called a "Reverse Mortgage." This instrument has
saved many elderly home owners from losing their homes and/or allowed
them to improve the quality of their lives during their senior years. The
legacy of Banneker's genius and ingenuity continues to positively impact
the quality of life for us all. As our commissioned poem by Poet, Ty
Gray-El states, "We Owe Banneker."
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