Immerse Yourself in the Life and Times of the Nation's First Black Scientist
Benjamin Banneker, celebrated today as the nation's first Black scientist and man of letters, was a largely self-taught mathematician, surveyor, and astronomer who came of age during America's revolutionary period. Silvio Bedini's acclaimed and definitive biography, The Life of Benjamin Banneker, is his story.
Banneker was born a free Black in 1731 and quickly exhibited an extraordinary facility for mathematics. Through his study of astronomy, he accurately predicted the solar eclipse that occurred in 1789, but his true acclaim is based on the almanacs he published between 1792 and 1797, which contained tidal information from Maryland to Canada, population figures for the burgeoning United States, astronomical data and weather predictions, and a wide variety of writings and occurrences of the time. He was instrumentally one of the nation's earliest record keepers.
In 1791, Banneker also demonstrated his role as an advocate for civil rights when he sent a copy of one of his almanac manuscripts to Thomas Jefferson (the nation's first Secretary of State), in which he enclosed a letter that challenged the Secretary's views on slavery and advocated for its abolishment. Both the letter and Jefferson's reply were soon published, notably representing two prevalent forces of the era in contrasting the humanitarian perspective of Banneker with those of the politician Jefferson, thus delineating a point of contention that continues to resonate today.
Using primary source material, author Silvio Bedini explores the facts, myths, and legends surrounding Benjamin Banneker. This republished revised and expanded edition, complete with over 75 photographs of documents and tools, skillfully captures the life of a gifted Black man living during eighteenth-century America. It is a vivid portrayal that readers will find engaging from its first page to its last.
This book is also available from Echo Point Books as a hardcover (ISBN 1648374174).
Industry Reviews
"A well-researched and conscientious account of the life of a grossly neglected black-American scientist; . . . a splendid accomplishment."-The New York Times Book Review
"Bedini, in an excellent example of historical sleuthing, and in spite of his meager and fragmentary sources, has produced a consistently interesting study of Banneker's life in the context of his times.... Bedini's picture of Maryland society illuminates a little-appreciated 18th-century liberalism."-Publisher's Weekly
"Bedini's authoritative biography of Banneker will be welcomed by those interested in the history of American science as well as students of black history. Well written and exhaustively researched, it is more than simply a recounting of the life and deeds of the black astronomer and almanac maker. Bedini's work deals with the economy of 18th-century Maryland, the important contributions of the Ellicott family to the area and the new nation, the surveying of the District of Columbia, and the methods used by early almanac makers in their computations."-The Library Journal
" . . . an engrossing account of one of America's first black men of science . . . a thoughtful and intelligent book."-The Smithsonian Magazine
"A thorough, carefully researched biography of the eighteenth-century black mathematician and astronomer, and his contributions to the development of science in America."-Bulletin of the American Library Association
"The Life of Benjamin Banneker offers remarkable insights and artistry in its picture of a time of fascinating social complexity requiring delicacy in its diagnosis and skill in its reconstruction. It is difficult to characterize this exquisite story of the first black scientist without superlatives which seem out of place in describing an account of a life so simple and at the same time so sublime and which is reproduced in masterful prose equally simple, accurate and appropriate. Here is a searching book that -like a light suddenly thrown on in the darkness-illuminates a long neglected scientific spirit struggling for recognition."-History Book Club
