Editing Benjamin Banneker (section)

== Biography ==

===Early life===
Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland, to Mary Banneky, a free black woman, and Robert, a [[Freedman|freed slave]] from [[Guinea (region)|Guinea]] who died in 1759.<ref name=Bedini2008>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/mathematics-biographies/benjamin-banneker|title=Benjamin Banneker &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref name=Heinegg>{{cite web|first=Paul|last=Heinegg|date=December 11, 2016|url=http://freeafricanamericans.com/Adams-Butler.htm|access-date=May 6, 2020|title=Banneker Family|work=Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware: Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware: Adams-Butler|archive-date=June 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624200755/http://freeafricanamericans.com/Adams-Butler.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

There are two conflicting accounts of Banneker's family history. Banneker himself and his earliest biographers described him as having only African ancestry.<ref>(1) [https://web.archive.org/web/20150122021054/http://etext.virginia.edu/images/modeng/public/BanLett/B24073e.jpg Banneker, 1792b, p. 6]. "Sir, I freely and cheerfully acknowledge, that I am of the African race, and in that color which is natural to them of the deepest dye"<br />(2) McHenry, pp. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435073185951&view=1up&seq=193 185]-[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435073185951&view=1up&seq=194 186]. "BENJAMIN BANNEKER, a free Negro, has calculated an Almanack for the ensuing Year, 1792, ..... . "This Man is about fifty-nine years in age; he was born in ''Baltimore county''; his father was an ''African'', and his mother, the offspring of ''African'' parents."<br />(3) [https://archive.org/details/memoirbenjaminb00socigoog/page/n12/mode/1up Latrobe, p. 6]. "His father was a native African, and his mother the child of natives of Africa; so that to no admixture of the blood of the white man was he indebted for his peculiar and extraordinary abilities."</ref><ref name=Perot>[http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1215&context=theses Perot, full text], pp. 5, 19–21, 33–36, 67.</ref><ref>(1) {{cite journal|last=Russell|first=George Ely|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32FmAAAAMAAJ&q=Molly+Welsh%3A|title=Molly Welsh: Alleged Grandmother of Benjamin Banneker|journal=National Genealogical Society Quarterly|volume=94|issue=4|publisher=[[National Genealogical Society]]|date=December 2006|pages=305–314|oclc=50612104|issn=0027-934X|lccn=17012813|access-date=June 7, 2015}}</ref> None of Banneker's surviving papers describe a white ancestor or identify the name of his grandmother.<ref name=Perot/> However, two lines of later research both suggest that Banneker's mother was the daughter of a white woman and an African slave, <ref name="Heinegg" /><ref name="Perot"/><ref name="johnson">{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Richard |date=18 January 2018 |title=Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610193716/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/banneker-benjamin-1731-1806/ |website=Black Past |quote="Benjamin seems to have served as an indentured laborer on the Prince George’s County plantation of Mary Welsh, who had dealings with the Bannaky family and in 1773 executed her dead husband’s instructions to release several of her labor force including “Negro Ben, born free age 43.” Walsh was surely not Banneker’s grandmother, as argued by many biographers, but she did leave him a substantial legacy. He then lived alone as a tobacco farmer near the Patapsco River."}}</ref><ref name="tyson">{{Cite web|last=Tyson |first=Martha (Ellicott) |date=June 30, 1854 |title=A sketch of the life of Benjamin Banneker; from notes taken in 1836 |url=http://archive.org/details/sketchoflifeofbe00tyso |publisher=[Baltimore] Printed by J. D. Toy |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{rp|4}} although they differ as to whether the Banneker surname came from his mother or father and the origin of the name, which could be from [[Banaka]], a small [[village]] in the present-day [[Klay District]] of [[Bomi County]] in northwestern [[Liberia]] that had once participated in the [[History of slavery#African participation in the slave trade|African slave trade]]<ref name="Heinegg" /><ref>(1) {{cite web|url=http://www.maplandia.com/liberia/bomi-terr/klay/banaka/|title=Banaka Map — Satellite Images of Banaka|work=maplandia.com: [[Google Maps|google maps]] world [[gazetteer]]|year=2016|access-date=May 6, 2020|quote=This place is situated in Klay, Bomi Terr., Liberia, its geographical coordinates are 6° 49' 44" North, 10° 46' 21" West and its original name (with diacritics) is Banaka.|archive-date=May 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506154928/http://www.maplandia.com/liberia/bomi-terr/klay/banaka/|url-status=live}}<br />(2) {{cite web|url=http://www.getamap.net/maps/liberia/bomi/_banaka/|title=Banaka / Bomi County|work=getamap.net|year=2020|access-date=May 6, 2020|quote=Banaka (Banaka) is a populated place ....  in Bomi County (Bomi), Liberia (Africa) .... . It is located at an elevation of 117 meters above sea level.|archive-date=May 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506155156/http://www.getamap.net/maps/liberia/bomi/_banaka/|url-status=live}}<br>(3) {{cite web|url=http://www.gomapper.com/travel/where-is/banaka-located.html|title=Where is Banaka in Liberia Located?|work=GoMapper|year=2020|access-date=May 6, 2020|quote=Banaka is a place with a very small population in the country of Liberia .... . Cities, towns and places near Banaka include Bonja, Kuodi, Wuefa and Fassa. The closest major cities include Monrovia, Freetown, Conakry and Daloa.|archive-date=May 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506155431/http://www.gomapper.com/travel/where-is/banaka-located.html|url-status=usurped}}<br>(4) Coordinates of Banaka: {{coord|6.828698|-10.7719071|scale:20000|format=dms|name=Banaka}}</ref> or "Banaka", the home of the [[Vai people]], who have lived there since about 1500 when they left the [[Mali Empire]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Paul|last=Heinegg|year=2021|url=http://freeafricanamericans.com/Adams-Butler.htm|access-date=September 14, 2021|title=Banneker Family|work=Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware: Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware: Adams-Butler|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914230106/http://freeafricanamericans.com/Adams-Butler.htm|archive-date=September 14, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>[[File:Ellicott City, Maryland (7391807448).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|View of the Patapsco Valley from Ellicott City (June 2012)]]

In 1737, when he was 6, Banneker was named on the deed of his family's {{convert|100|acre|km2|abbr=on|adj=on}} farm in the [[Patapsco Valley]] in rural Baltimore County.<ref name="Bedini148">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv|title=The life of Benjamin Banneker|first=Silvio A.|last=Bedini|date=June 30, 1971|publisher=New York, Scribner|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=Hurry>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hurry|first=Robert J.|editor-last=Hockey|editor-first=Thomas|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-BF1CHkc50C&pg=PA91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-BF1CHkc50C&pg=printsec|title=Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers|chapter=Banneker, Benjamin|year=2007|pages=91–92|location=New York |publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer]]|isbn=9780387310220|oclc=65764986|access-date=July 29, 2020|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Glawe |first=Eddie |date=13 February 2014 |title=Feature: Benjamin Banneker. |url=http://www.xyht.com/professional-surveyor-archives/feature-benjamin-banneker/#sthash.AWoRGOoZ.dpuf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818211453/http://www.xyht.com/professional-surveyor-archives/feature-benjamin-banneker/ |archive-date=18 August 2015 |access-date=26 March 2025 |website=xyHt |quote=This indenture made this tenth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred thirty seven between Richard Gist... of the one part, Robert Bannaky and [his son] Benjamin Bannaky... of the other part}}</ref><ref>Facsimile of handwritten deed conveying property from Richard Gist to Robert Bannaky and Benjamin Bannaky. &nbsp;''In'' {{cite web |last=Clark |first=James W., Maryland Commission on Afro-American and Indian History and Culture, Annapolis, Maryland |date=June 14, 1976 |title=Benjamin Banneker Homesite |url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/004000/004300/004382/pdf/msa_se5_4382.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818203231/http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/004000/004300/004382/pdf/msa_se5_4382.pdf |archive-date=August 18, 2015 |access-date=November 15, 2015 |work=Maryland State Historical Trust: Inventory Form for State Historic Sites Survey |publisher=[[Maryland State Archives]] |page=16 |location=[[Annapolis, Maryland]]}}</ref> 

In 1791, a letter writer stated that Banneker's parents had sent him to an obscure school where he learned reading, writing and arithmetic as far as double position.{{what|reason=What is double position|date=November 2022}}<ref>(1) McHenry, pp. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435073185951&view=1up&seq=193 185]-[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435073185951&view=1up&seq=194 186]. "This man is about fifty-nine years of age; he was born in ''Baltimore county''; his father was an ''African'', and his mother the offspring of ''African'' parents. His father and mother having obtained their freedom, were enabled to send him to an obscure school, where he learned, as a boy, reading, writing, and arithmetic, as far as double position.<br />(2) {{cite web|url=http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Double+position|title=Double position|work=Webster's 1913 Dictionary|access-date=June 14, 2020|quote=(Arith.) the method of solving problems by proceeding with each of two assumed numbers, according to the conditions of the problem, and by comparing the difference of the results with those of the numbers, deducing the correction to be applied to one of them to obtain the true result.|archive-date=June 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614192843/http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Double+position|url-status=live}}<br>(3) {{cite book|first=Daniel|last=Adams|year=1807|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044096989686&view=1up&seq=225|chapter=Section III. § 10. Position: Double Position|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044096989686&view=1up&seq=11|title=The Scholar's Arithmetic; or, Federal Accountant|edition=4th|pages=201–202|lccn=38021948|oclc=1153971636|location=[[Keene, New Hampshire]]|publisher=Printed by and for John Prentiss, (proprietor of the copy-right) and sold at his book-store, wholesale and retail.--Sold also by the principal booksellers in New-England, and at the Rensselaer book-store, [[Troy, New York|Troy, N.Y.]]|access-date=June 22, 2020|via=[[HathiTrust|HathiTrust Digital Library]]}}</ref> In contrast, unverified accounts, first appeared in books published more than 140 years after Banneker's death suggest that, as a young teenager, Banneker met and befriended Peter Heinrich, a [[Quaker]] who later established a school near the Banneker family farm.<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/yourmosthumblese00dubo/page/45/mode/1up/search/school Graham, 1949, p. 45.] Not until all the tobacco was in and "the Christmas" over was the school opened. Among the boys who sat on the smooth log facing Peter Heinrich was the dark boy. .... The dark boy's name seemed rather long. For Peter Heinrich wrote "Benjamin Banneker". .... And thus the spelling was changed from that in the earliest records.<br />(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/300/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 300.] "Martha Tyson's posthumous book was the last work about Banneker to be based on original materials. During the next several decades, numerous articles in periodicals and newspapers mentioned Banneker's life and works, but each was based on earlier publications without contributing new materials. .... Finally, in 1949 another biography of Banneker appeared. This work by Shirley Graham was highly fictionalized and written for young people. It became popular, but the lack of distinction between fact and fiction in its presentation, while a compliment to the writing skill of Shirley Graham, has resulted in yet more confusion concerning Banneker's achievements and their importance."</ref><ref name=Cerami24>(1) [https://archive.org/details/banneker00char/page/24/mode/1up Cerami, 2002, pp. 24–28.]<br />(2) [https://web.archive.org/web/20120905204059/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=7440 Corrigan, 2003, p. 2] "Cerami constructs a credible narrative of Banneker's life, but fails to document his research."</ref> These accounts state that Heinrich shared his personal library and provided Banneker with his only classroom instruction.<ref name=Cerami24/><ref>[https://archive.org/details/yourmosthumblese00dubo/page/52/mode/1up Graham, 1949, p. 52.] "The school was now housed in a building all its own and was supported by the Society of Friends. Though Ben was no longer a regular attendant he still considered himself a pupil. Very often when his days work was done he rode over to Master Heinrich's house for talk or to exchange a book"</ref> Banneker's formal education (if any) presumably ended when he was old enough to help on his family's farm.<ref name=Latrobe7>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/memoirbenjaminb00socigoog|title=Memoir of Benjamin Banneker: Read Before the Maryland Historical Society, at ...|first=Maryland Historical Society|last=John Hazlehurst Boneval Latrobe |date=June 30, 1845|publisher=Printed by John D. Toy|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Notable works===
Around 1753, at about the age of 21, Banneker reportedly completed a wooden clock that [[Striking clock|struck on the hour]]. He appears to have modelled his clock from a borrowed pocket watch by carving each piece to scale. The clock continued to work until his death.<ref name=Latrobe7/><ref>(1) Tyson, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/sketchoflifeofbe00tyso#page/5/mode/1up 5], [https://archive.org/stream/sketchoflifeofbe00tyso#page/9/mode/1up 9]–[https://archive.org/stream/sketchoflifeofbe00tyso#page/10/mode/1up 10],  [https://archive.org/stream/sketchoflifeofbe00tyso#page/18/mode/1up 18].<br />(2) {{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3opAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA729|title=Book Notice: Banneker, ''the Afric-American Astronomer.'' From the posthumous papers of M.E. Tyson. Edited by Her Daughter. Phila. 1020 Arch Street. 1884|journal=Friends Review: A Religious, Literary and Miscellaneous Journal|volume=37|number=46|page=729|editor=Hartshorne, Henry|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Franklin E. Paige|date=June 21, 1884|access-date=January 16, 2017|archive-date=January 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116214630/https://books.google.com/books?id=_3opAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA729|url-status=live}}<br />(3) [https://archive.org/details/bulletinunitedst2311964unit/page/22/mode/1up Bedini, 1964], p. 22.<br />(4) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/44/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 44.] "Completed in 1753, Bannekers' clock continued to operate until his death, more than 50 years later."<br />(5) [https://web.archive.org/web/20160203192640/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Benjamin_Banneker.aspx Bedini, 2008] "At about the age of twenty-one he (Banneker) constructed a striking wall clock, without ever having seen one. .... The clock continued to function successfully for more than fifty years, until his death."<br />(6) {{cite book|last=Bailey|first=Chris H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q6kRAQAAMAAJ&q=%22it+was+destroyed%22|title=Two Hundred Years of American Clocks & Watches|page=73|location=[[Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey]]|publisher=[[Prentice Hall|Prentice-Hall, Inc.]]|year=1975|oclc=756413530|isbn=0139351302|lccn=75013714|access-date=March 29, 2019}}</ref>

After his father died in 1759, Banneker lived with his mother and sisters.<ref name=Bedini2008/><ref name="tyson" /> Records indicate that in 1768 and 1773, he was living in Baltimore.<ref>(1) {{cite web|url=http://freeafricanamericans.com/Adams-Butler.htm|date=December 11, 2016|access-date=June 24, 2017|title=Banneker Family|work=Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware|first=Paul|last=Heinegg|archive-date=June 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624200755/http://freeafricanamericans.com/Adams-Butler.htm|url-status=live}}<br />(2) {{cite journal|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000061/pdf/am61--531.pdf|title=Petitions for and against removal of the county seat of Baltimore County from Joppa to Baltimore Town, 1768: A. Petitions for removal of the County Seat|journal=Maryland State Archives (Archives of Maryland On-Line)|volume=61|pages=520–554|quote=Benjamin Banneker (page 551)|access-date=February 9, 2018|archive-date=February 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209223437/http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000061/pdf/am61--531.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/47/mode/1up 47], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/368 368–369].</ref>

In 1772, brothers [[Andrew Ellicott (miller)|Andrew Ellicott]], [[John Ellicott (miller)|John Ellicott]] and [[Joseph Ellicott (miller)|Joseph Ellicott]] moved from [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania]], and bought land along the Patapsco Falls near Banneker's farm on which to construct [[gristmill]]s, around which the village of [[Ellicott City#History|Ellicott's Mills]] (now [[Ellicott City]]) subsequently developed.<ref name="ellicottcity">{{cite web|url=http://ellicottcity.net/tourism/history|title=Historic Ellicott City's History|work=ellicottcity.net|publisher=Ellicott City Graphic Arts|location=Ellicott City, Maryland|access-date=February 21, 2016|archive-date=August 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810082310/http://ellicottcity.net/tourism/history|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=tyson2>{{cite book|first=Martha Ellicott|last=Tyson|year=1865|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/briefaccountofse00tyso/page/n6/mode/1up|url=https://archive.org/details/briefaccountofse00tyso/page/n4/mode/1up|chapter=A Brief Account of the Settlement of Ellicott's Mills|title=A Brief Account of the Settlement of Ellicott's Mills, with Fragments of History therewith Connected: Written at the request of Evan T. Ellicott, Baltimore, 1865: Read before the Maryland Historical Society, Nov. 3, 1870|location=Baltimore |publisher=Printed by J. Murphy: Printer to the [[Maryland Center for History and Culture|Maryland Historical Society]]|lccn=rc01003387|oclc=777869103|pages=3–4|access-date=December 2, 2020|via=[[Internet Archive]]|quote=The earliest observable change in the agricultural system of Maryland, was occasioned by a purchase made in 1772, by the brothers Joseph, Andrew and John Ellicott, of lands and mill-sites on the Patapsco river, 10 miles west of Baltimore, and by the building of their mills for grinding wheat and other grains. The purchase embraced the lands, on both sides of the Patapsco, for four miles in extent, and included all the water power within that distance, ..... }}</ref><ref name=mayer>{{cite book|last=Mayer|first=Brantz|year=1871|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/baltimorepastpre00maye/page/93/mode/1up|chapter=Baltimore: From the End of the War with Great Britain and the Opening of the South American Trade to the Present Time|url=https://archive.org/details/baltimorepastpre00maye/page/n10/mode/1up|title=Baltimore: Past and Present. With Biographical Sketches of its Representative Men|page=93|lccn=rc01003450|oclc=1041066526|location=Baltimore|publisher=Richardson & Bennett|access-date=December 2, 2020|via=[[Internet Archive]]|quote=In the city, and within the compass of twenty miles around it, there were upwards of sixty grain mills, of various descriptions, in which it was said that fully a million and a quarter of dollars were invested. This, of course, was an element of great prospective wealth, especially as the water power for manufactures, within the radius of those twenty miles, at Patapsco Falls, ....}}</ref><ref name=arnold>{{cite news|first=Melissa|last= Arnold|date=January 2, 2001|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2001-01-02-0101020178-story.html|title=Ellicotts, Banneker found common ground in science|work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=January 23, 2021}}</ref> The Ellicotts were Quakers who held the same views on racial equality as did many of their faith.<ref name=ellicottcity/><ref name="Bedini pp185-199">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi|title=The life of Benjamin Banneker|date=June 30, 1999|publisher=Maryland Historical Society|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Banneker studied the mills and became acquainted with their proprietors.<ref name="Williams387">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/historynegrorac05willgoog|title=History of the Negro race in America from 1619 to 1880. Negroes as slaves, as soldiers, and as citizens; together with a preliminary consideration of the unity of the human family, an historical sketch of Africa, and an account of the negro governments of Sierra Leone and Liberia|first=George Washington|last=Williams|date=June 30, 1885|publisher=New York, London, G.P. Putnam's Sons|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="tyson" /> In 1788, [[George Ellicott]], a son of Andrew Ellicott, loaned Banneker books and equipment to begin a more formal study of astronomy.<ref name="Glawe">{{cite web|url=http://www.xyht.com/professional-surveyor-archives/feature-benjamin-banneker/|title=Glawe|date=February 13, 2014 |access-date=August 18, 2015|archive-date=August 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818211453/http://www.xyht.com/professional-surveyor-archives/feature-benjamin-banneker/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Timeline">{{Cite web|url=http://catonsville.exploremd.us/oella/benjamin_banneker_historical_park/time_line/|title=Catonsville, MD – Oella – Benjamin Banneker's Historical Park & Museum – Time Line|date=May 31, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531152237/http://catonsville.exploremd.us/oella/benjamin_banneker_historical_park/time_line/ |archive-date=May 31, 2010 }}</ref><ref>(1) [http://www.boundarystones.org/articles/rchs_1969.pdf Bedini, 1969, p. 8.]<br />(2) Bedini, 1999, [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/81/mode/1up pp. 81–87]; [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/371/mode/1up p. 371, references 3, 4, 5]; [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/382/mode/1up p. 382, reference 12].<br />(3) {{cite news|first=Melissa|last= Arnold|date=January 2, 2001|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2001-01-02-0101020178-story.html|title=Ellicotts, Banneker found common ground in science|work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=January 23, 2021}}<br />(4) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435073185951&view=1up&seq=194 McHenry, p. 186.] "It is about three years since mr. George Ellicott lent him Mayer's tables, [[James Ferguson (Scottish astronomer)|Ferguson]]'s astronomy, Leadbeater's lunar tables and some astronomical instruments, but without accompanying them with either hint or instruction, that might further his studies, or lead him to apply them to any useful result. These books and instruments, the first of the kind that he had ever seen, opened a new world to Benjamin, and from thence forward he employed his leisure in astronomical researches."<br />(5) {{cite book|first=Tobias|last=Mayer|editor-first=Nevil|editor-last= Maskelyne|year=1770|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3p6hhGLKfkC&pg=printsec|title=New and correct tables of the motions of the sun and moon|language=la, en|location=London|publisher=William and John Richardson: Sold by John Nourse, John Mount and Thomas Page|oclc=981762891|access-date=June 22, 2020|via=[[Google Books]]}}<br />(6) {{cite book|first=James|last=Ferguson|author-link=James Ferguson (Scottish astronomer)|year=1756|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ji1cAAAAQAAJ&pg=printsec|title=Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles,: And Made Easy to Those who Have Not Studied Mathematics|location=London|publisher=Printed for, and sold by the author, at the Globe, opposite Cecil-street in the Strand|oclc=55560074|lccn=ltf91075548|access-date=June 22, 2020|via=[[Google Books]]}}<br />(7) {{cite book|first=Charles|last=Leadbetter|year=1742|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z3gRvA2J3DYC&pg=printsec|title=A Compleat System of Astronomy|edition=2nd|oclc=822001557|lccn=45046785|location=London|publisher=J. Wilcox|access-date=June 22, 2020}}</ref> During the following year, Banneker sent George his work calculating a [[solar eclipse]].<ref name="Glawe" /><ref name="Timeline" /><ref name="Williams387" />

In 1790, Banneker prepared an [[ephemeris]] for 1791, which he hoped would be placed within a published almanac.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435073185951&view=1up&seq=194 McHenry, p. 186.] "He (Banneker) now took up the idea for calculations for an almanac, and actually completed and entire set for the last year, upon his original stock of arithmetic.   Encouraged by this first attempt, he entered upon his calculation for 1792, which as well as the former, he began and finished without the least information, or assistance, from any person or other books, than those that I have mentioned; so that, whatever merit is attached to his present performance, is exclusively and peculiarly his own."</ref> However, he was unable to find a printer that was willing to publish and distribute the work.<ref name=Glawe/><ref name=Tise>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T1F1H2KUj80C&pg=PA213|title=The American Counterrevolution: A Retreat from Liberty, 1783–1800|first=Larry E.|last=Tise|date=June 30, 1998|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=9780811701006 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

====Survey of the original boundaries of the District of Columbia====
[[File:Map of the District of Columbia, 1835.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|{{center|[[Library of Congress]]}} 1835 map of the District of Columbia showing Washington City in its center, Georgetown to the west of the city, and the town of Alexandria in the District's south corner.]]
[[File:Andrew Ellicott.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|1799 portrait of Andrew Ellicott]]

In early 1791, [[United States Secretary of State|U.S. Secretary of State]], Thomas Jefferson, asked surveyor [[Andrew Ellicott|Maj. Andrew Ellicott]] to survey an area for a new [[federal district]]. In February 1791, Ellicott left a survey in [[western New York]] to begin the district survey and hired Banneker to assist him, advancing him $60 for travel expenses to and at [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]].<ref name=stone>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013259695&view=1up&seq=20|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013259695&view=1up&seq=5|author=National Capital Planning Commission|author-link=National Capital Planning Commission|year=1976|chapter=History|title=Boundary markers of the Nation's Capital: a proposal for their preservation & protection: a National Capital Planning Commission Bicentennial report|page=9|place=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[National Capital Planning Commission]]; For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, [[United States Government Publishing Office|United States Government Printing Office]]|oclc=3772302|access-date=February 22, 2016|via=[[HathiTrust|HathiTrust Digital Library]]|quote=... Andrew Ellicott retained Banneker to make the astronomical calculations necessary to establish the location of the south corner stone, while Ellicott and the field crews did the actual surveying.}}</ref><ref name=markers>(1) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/110/mode/1up 110–114], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/133/mode/1up 133–134].<br />(2) {{cite web |url=http://www.boundarystones.org/ |title=Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia |publisher=boundarystones.org|access-date=January 27, 2014|archive-date=December 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227223318/http://www.boundarystones.org/ |url-status=live }}.<br>(3) [https://archive.org/details/centennialhistor00crew/page/87/mode/1up Crew, pp. 87–103.]<br>(4) {{cite web|last=Langelan|first=Chas|title=Andrew Ellicott and his Survey of the Federal Territory on the Potomac, 1791–1793|url=https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/transcripts/2012/120518gmd1300.txt|format=transcript|work=Philip Lee Philips Society Annual Conference: Visualizing The Nation's Capital: Two Centuries of Mapping Washington, D.C., Session 2 (moderator: Bill Stanley)|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|date=August 24, 2012|access-date=February 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302182049/https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/transcripts/2012/120518gmd1300.txt|archive-date=March 2, 2016}}</ref>

The territory that became the original District of Columbia was formed from land along the [[Potomac River]] ceded by the states of [[Maryland]] and [[Virginia]] to the [[federal government of the United States|federal government]] (see: [[History of Washington, D.C.#Founding|Founding of Washington, D.C.]]).<ref name=stone/><ref name=markers/><ref name="residence act">{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001%2Fllsl001.db&recNum=253|title=Text of Residence Act|work=American Memory: A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 – 1875: Statutes at Large, 1st Congress, 2nd Session, p. 130, July 16, 1790: Chapter 28: An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=June 9, 2018|archive-date=September 13, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913134846/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001%2Fllsl001.db&recNum=253|url-status=live}}</ref> a square to measure 10 miles (16 km) on each side, totaling 100 square miles (260 km<sup>2</sup>). Ellicott's team placed [[Boundary marker|boundary marker stone]]s at or near every mile point along the borders of the new capital territory.<ref name=stone/><ref name=markers/>

Banneker's role in the survey isn't entirely certain. Some biographers have stated that Banneker's duties consisted primarily of making astronomical observations and calculations to establish base points, including one at [[Jones Point (Virginia)|Jones Point]] in [[Alexandria, Virginia]], where the survey started and where the south corner stone was to be located.<ref name=stone/><ref>[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/127/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 137.] "He (Banneker) served in the true sense of an assistant to Ellicott himself, making notes for him, making calculations as required, and using the astronomical equipment for establishing base points."</ref> They have also stated that Banneker maintained a clock that he used to relate points on the ground to the positions of stars at specific times.<ref name=Glawe/><ref name="Bedini148"/> 

However, there is little documentation to confirm Banneker's role<ref>[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/103/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 103.] "Curiously enough, the record of Banneker's participation rests on extremely meager documentation, consisting of a statement written in a letter by Thomas Jefferson and two statements made by Banneker himself."</ref><ref name=Founders>{{cite book|editor-first=Julian P.|editor-last=Boyd|editor-link=Julian P. Boyd|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41|chapter=Locating the Federal District: Editorial Note: Footnote number 119|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=printsec|title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: 24 January–31 March 1791|volume=19|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]]|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=1974|pages=41–43|oclc=1045069058|isbn=9780691185255|lccn=50007486|access-date=March 27, 2019|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> and a news report covering the April 15 dedication ceremony for the first boundary stone (the south corner stone) credits Andrew Ellicott with "ascertain[ing] the precise point from which the first line of the district was to proceed" <ref>(1) {{cite news|location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=Benjamin Russell|url=http://www.boundarystones.org/articles/columbian_centinel_1791.pdf|title=New Federal City|work=Columbian Centennial|number=744|date=May 7, 1791|access-date=October 9, 2016|via=boundarystones.org|archive-date=June 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630220952/http://www.boundarystones.org/articles/columbian_centinel_1791.pdf|url-status=live}}<br>(2) Bedini, 1972, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/124/mode/1up 124],  [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/314/mode/1up 314]</ref> and did not mention Banneker.<ref>(1) [http://www.boundarystones.org/articles/rchs_1969.pdf Bedini, 1969, p. 25.]<br>(2) {{cite news|url=http://www.boundarystones.org/articles/columbian_centinel_1791.pdf|title=New Federal City|location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=Benjamin Russell|work=Columbian Centennial|number=744|date=May 7, 1791|access-date=October 9, 2016|via=boundarystones.org|archive-date=June 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630220952/http://www.boundarystones.org/articles/columbian_centinel_1791.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Banneker left the boundary survey in April 1791 due to other commitments, particularly the calculation of an ephemeris for the year of 1792.<ref>Banneker, 1792b, pp. [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=19 9]–[https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=20 10]. "And altho I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted therefor being taking up at the Federal Territory by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott, yet finding myself under several engagments to Printers of this state, to whom I had communicated my design, upon my return to my place of residence, I industriously applied myself thereto, ....".</ref><ref name=Bedini136>Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/132/mode/1up 132],  [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/136/mode/1up 136].</ref> The arrival of spring also required him to direct more attention to his farm than was needed during the winter.<ref name=Bedini136/> Banneker, therefore, returned to his home near Ellicott's Mills.<ref name="Glawe" /><ref name="Bedini136" /> 

Andrew Ellicott's two younger brothers, who usually assisted him, had completed the New York survey about the same time and were able to join the survey of the federal district.<ref name="Bedini136" /> The surveying team laid the remaining Virginia marker stones in 1791, laying the Maryland stones and completed the boundary survey in 1792.<ref name=stone/><ref name=markers /><ref>Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/129/mode/1up 129], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/132/mode/1up 132–136].</ref>

====Banneker's almanacs====
After returning to Ellicott's Mills, Banneker made astronomical calculations that predicted [[eclipse]]s and [[Conjunction (astronomy)|planetary conjunctions]] for inclusion in an almanac and ephemeris for the year of 1792.<ref name=Bedini2008/><ref name=Tise/><ref name="Bedini pp185-199"/> To aid Banneker in his efforts to have his almanac published, Andrew Ellicott (who had been authoring almanacs and ephemerides of his own since 1780)<ref>(1) {{cite web|last=Davis|first=Nancy M.|url=http://www.lewisandclarkphila.org/philadelphia/philadelphiaellicott.html|title=Andrew Ellicott: Astronomer…mathematician…surveyor|work=Philadelphia Connection|publisher=Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation: Philadelphia Chapter|date=August 26, 2001|access-date=March 1, 2019|quote=After the war, he (Ellicott) returned to Fountainvale, the family home in Ellicott Upper Mills, and published a series of almanacs, ''The United States Almanack''. (The earliest known copy is dated 1782.)|archive-date=September 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929041300/http://www.lewisandclarkphila.org/philadelphia/philadelphiaellicott.html|url-status=usurped}}<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/214/mode/1up Drake, p. 214.] "The MARYLAND, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North-Carolina Almanack and Ephemeris for 1781. By Andrew Ellicott. Baltimore: M. K. Goddard: Philadelphia: Benjamin January."<br>(3) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/511/mode/1up Drake, p. 511.] "UNITED States Almanack for 1782. By Andrew Ellicott. [[Chatham, New Jersey|Chatham]]: Shepard Kollock."<br>(4) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/215/mode/1up Drake, p. 215.] "ELLICOTT'S Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris for 1786. Baltimore: Goddard and Langworthy."<br>(5) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/216/mode/1up Drake, p. 216.] "ELLICOTT'S Maryland and Virginia Almanack, and Ephemeris for 1787. Baltimore: John Hayes."<br>(6) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/216/mode/1up Drake, p. 216.] "The MARYLAND and Virginia Almanack, and Ephemeris for 1788. By Andrew Ellicott. Baltimore: John Hayes."<br>(7) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/216/mode/1up Drake, p. 216.] "POOR Robin's Almanac for 1788. By Andrew Ellicott. Frederick-Town: Matthias Bartgis. .... 2112"<br>(8) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/217/mode/1up Drake, p. 217.] "ELLICOTT'S Maryland and Virginia Almanack, and Ephemeris for 1789. Baltimore: John Hayes."<br>(9) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/217/mode/1up Drake, p. 217.] "ELLICOTT'S Maryland and Virginia Almanack, and Ephemeris for 1790. Baltimore: John Hayes."<br>(10) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/217/mode/1up?q=Ellicott Drake, p. 217.] "ELLICOTT'S Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris for 1791. Baltimore: John Hayes."<br>(11) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/97/mode/1up 97], &nbsp;[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/109/mode/1up 109], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/210/mode/1up 210].</ref> forwarded Banneker's ephemeris to James Pemberton, the president of the [[Pennsylvania Abolition Society|Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage]].<ref name=Glawe/><ref name=Tise/><ref name="Bedini148"/>
[[File:Charles Willson Peale - David Rittenhouse - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|<div style="text-align: center;"><sup>[[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]]</sup><br />1796 [[Oil painting|oil portrait]] of David Rittenhouse by [[Charles Willson Peale]]</div>]]

Pemberton then asked William Waring, a [[Philadelphia]] mathematician and ephemeris calculator,<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/70/mode/1up Morrison, p. 70.] "The New-Jersey almanack for 1788. The astronomical calculations by Wm. Waring. [[Trenton, New Jersey|Trenton]]: Isaac Collins."<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/138/mode/1up Morrison, p. 138.] "Poulson's town and country almanac for 1789. The astronomical calculations by Wm. Waring, teacher of mathematics in the Friends' academy. Philadelphia: Zachariah Poulson, junior".<br>(3) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/70/mode/1up Morrison, p. 70.] "The New-Jersey almanack for 1789. By Wm. Waring. [[Trenton, New Jersey|Trenton]]: Isaac Collins."<br>(4) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/70/mode/1up Morrison, p. 70.] "The New-Jersey almanack for 1790. By Wm. Waring. [[Trenton, New Jersey|Trenton]]: Isaac Collins."<br>(5) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/139/mode/1up Morrison, p. 139.] "Poor Will's almanac for 1790. The astronom. calculations by Wm. Waring. Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank."<br>(6) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/139/mode/1up Morrison, p. 139.] "Poulson's town and country almanac for 1790. By Wm. Waring. Philadelphia: Zachariah Poulson, jr."<br>(7) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/139/mode/1up Morrison, p. 139.] "Poulson's town and country almanac for 1791. By Wm. Waring. Philadelphia: Zachariah Poulson, jr."</ref> and [[David Rittenhouse]], a prominent American astronomer, almanac author,<ref>(1)  [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/156/mode/1up?q=Rittenhouse Morrison, p. 156.] "The Virginia Almanac for 1774. By the celebrated Mr. Rittenhouse, Philomath. [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]]: William Rind."<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/157/mode/1up?q=Rittenhouse Morrison, p. 157.] "The Virginia Almanac for 1780. By David Rittenhouse, Philo. [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]]: J. Dixon & T. Nicolson."<br>(3) [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/214/mode/1up Drake, p. 214.] "The MARYLAND, Virginia and Pennsylvania Almanack and Ephemeris for 1780. By David Rittenhouse. Baltimore: M. K. Goddard."<br>(5) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/132/mode/1up Morrison, p. 132.] "The Continental almanac for 1781. By Anthony Sharpe, Philom. Philadelphia: Francis Bailey."<br>(6) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/132/mode/1up Morrison, p. 132.] "The Continental pocket almanac for 1781. By Anthony Sharpe (i.e., David Rittenhouse). Philadelphia: Francis Bailey. 1780."</ref> surveyor and scientific instrument maker who was at the time serving as the president of the [[American Philosophical Society]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/david-rittenhouse|title=David Rittenhouse (1732–1796)|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]] Archives & Records Center|access-date=February 28, 2019|archive-date=January 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123211745/https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/david-rittenhouse|url-status=live}}</ref> to confirm the accuracy of Banneker's work.<ref name=Tise/><ref name="Bedini148"/> Waring endorsed Banneker's work, stating, "I have examined Benjamin Banneker's Almanac for 1792, and am of the Opinion that it well deserves the Acceptance and Encouragement of the Public."<ref name="Bedini148"/>

Rittenhouse responded to Pemberton by stating that Banneker's ephemeris "was a very extraordinary performance, considering the Colour of the Author" and that he "had no doubt that the Calculations are sufficiently accurate for the purposes of a common Almanac. .... Every instance of Genius amongst the Negroes is worthy of attention, because their suppressors seem to lay great stress on their supposed inferior mental abilities."<ref name="Bedini148"/> A biographer wrote that Banneker replied to Rittenhouse's endorsement by stating: "I am annoyed to find that the subject of my race is so much stressed. The work is either correct or it is not. In this case, I believe it to be perfect."<ref>[https://archive.org/details/banneker00char/page/150/mode/1up Cerami, p. 150.] "I am annoyed to find that the subject of my race is so much stressed," he (Banneker) remarked. "The work is either correct or it is not. In this case, I believe it to be perfect."</ref>
[[File:William Goddard.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|<sup>{{center|[[Rhode Island Historical Society]], [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]]}}</sup>{{center|Portrait of William Goddard (c. 1780–1785)}}]]

Pemberton then made arrangements for Joseph Crukshank (a Philadelphia Quaker who was a founder of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery and who had since 1770 been publishing almanacs, including at least one that Waring had calculated) to print Banneker's almanac.<ref name=Glawe/><ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/157/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 157.]<br>(2)  [https://archive.org/details/preliminarychec00morrgoog/page/n128 Morrison, p. 123-140.]<br>(3) [https://archive.org/details/preliminarycheck00morr/page/139/mode/1up Morrison, p. 139.] "Poor Will's almanac for 1790. The astronom. calculations by Wm. Waring. Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank."</ref> Having thus secured the support of Pemberton, Rittenhouse and Waring, Banneker delivered a manuscript containing his ephemeris to [[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]], a Baltimore printer who had published ''The Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris'' for every year since 1782.<ref>(1) Drake, pp. [https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/214/mode/2up 214]–[https://archive.org/details/almanacsofunited00drak/page/218/mode/1up 218.]<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/164/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, pp. 164–173.]<br>(3) {{cite web|url=http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/Inpursuit/casefloor/casefloor_7.htm|title=Almanac|work=In Pursuit of a Vision: Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society|location=[[Worcester, Massachusetts]]|publisher=[[American Antiquarian Society]]|year=2012|access-date=February 11, 2018|quote=Benjamin Banneker. Holographic manuscript of his 1792 almanac and ephemeris, with the published edition: Benjamin Banneker’s Almanack. Baltimore: William Goddard and James Angell …, both 1791. Manuscript: Gift of William Goddard, 1813. Published almanac: Gift of Samuel L. Munson, 1925|archive-date=August 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815231606/http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/Inpursuit/casefloor/casefloor_7.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Goddard then agreed to print and distribute Banneker's work within an almanac and ephemeris for the year of 1792.<ref name="Bedini148"/>

Banneker's ''Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of our Lord, 1792'' was the first in a six-year series of almanacs and ephemerides that printers agreed to publish and sell.<ref name=Glawe/><ref name=Tise/> At least 28 editions of the almanacs, some of which appeared during the same year, were printed in seven cities in five states: Baltimore; Philadelphia; [[Wilmington, Delaware]]; Alexandria, Virginia; [[Petersburg, Virginia]]; [[Richmond, Virginia]]; and [[Trenton, New Jersey]].<ref name=Glawe/><ref>(1) List of Banneker's almanacs:  [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/393/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 393–396.] "Banneker's Letters and Almanacs"<br>(2) List of Banneker's almanacs, with links: {{cite web|access-date=March 14, 2017|date=March 3, 2017|url=https://shakeosphere.lib.uiowa.edu/persons/person.jsp?pid=1808|title=Benjamin Banneker|work=Shakeospeare|publisher=The [[University of Iowa]] Libraries|archive-date=March 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314131551/https://shakeosphere.lib.uiowa.edu/persons/person.jsp?pid=1808|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>(1) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?st=gallery |title=Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and EPHEMERIS, for the YEAR of our LORD, 1792; Being BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Sixteenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776 |publisher=Printed and sold, Wholesale and Retail, by William Goddard and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street. – Sold, also, by Mr. Joseph Crukshank, Printer, in Market-Street, and Mr. Daniel Humphreys, Printer, in South-Front-Street, Philadelphia – and by Messrs. Hanson and Bond, Printers, in Alexandria |year=1791 |location=Baltimore |format=48 [[Digitization|digitized]] images |lccn=98650590 |oclc=39311640 |access-date=April 21, 2020 |via=[[Library of Congress]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/393/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 393, Reference 2.]]

(2) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |title=Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris for 1792 |publisher=[[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]] and James Angell |year=1791 |location=Baltimore}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/393/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 393, Reference 3.]]

(3) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |title=Banneker's almanac for 1792 |publisher=Printed for William Young, Bookseller, No. 52, Second-street, the corner of Chesnut-street |year=1791 |location=Philadelphia}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/393/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 393, Reference 4.]]

(4) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |title=Benjamin Banneker's 1793 Almanack and Ephemeris; being The First After Bissextile or Leap-Year |publisher=Printed and Sold by Joseph Crukshank, No. 87, High-Street |year=1792 |location=Philadelphia}}

(a) {{cite book |url=https://transcription.si.edu/project/8045 |title=Complete almanac |format=47 [[Digitization|digitized]] images and transcripts |access-date=April 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415164631/https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_009 |archive-date=April 15, 2020 |url-status=live |via=Washington, D.C.: [[Smithsonian Institution]]: Smithsonian Digital Volunteers: Transcription Center}}

(b) {{cite web |title=Title Page |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/26f8d080661ebae8f3675ea5764fccba.jpg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426154948/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/26f8d080661ebae8f3675ea5764fccba.jpg |archive-date=April 26, 2020 |access-date=April 26, 2020 |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}}

Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 5.]]

(5) (a) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-an-original-copy-of-benjamin-banneker-almanac-10536191.html |chapter=Title Page |title=Benjamin Banneker's almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1793; Being the first after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Seventeenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776 |publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by [[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]] and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street |year=1792 |location=Baltimore |at=An original copy of Benjamin Banneker Almanac: Contributor: Michael Ventura / Alamy Stock Photo |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |lccn=98650590 |oclc=1053084527 |access-date=March 1, 2021 |via=[[Alamy]]}} 

(b) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/33125041885/in/photostream/lightbox |chapter=Title Page |title=Benjamin Banneker's almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1793; Being the first after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Seventeenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776 |publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by [[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]] and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street |year=1792 |location=Baltimore |at=Exhibit in [[Commemorations of Benjamin Banneker#Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum, Baltimore County, Maryland|Benjamin Banneker Museum]], [[Oella, Maryland]]. Photographer: F. Delvanthal |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |lccn=98650590 |oclc=1053084527 |access-date=November 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109165328/https://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/33125041885/in/photostream/lightbox |archive-date=November 9, 2019 |url-status=live |via=[[Flickr]] (February 18, 2017)}}

(c) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/32742491780/in/photostream/lightbox/ |chapter=Page for October |date=February 18, 2017 |title=Benjamin Banneker's almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1793; Being the first after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Seventeenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776 |publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by [[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]] and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street |location=Baltimore |at=Exhibit in [[Commemorations of Benjamin Banneker#Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum, Baltimore County, Maryland|Benjamin Banneker Museum]], [[Oella, Maryland]]. Photographer: F. Delvanthal |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |lccn=98650590 |oclc=1053084527 |access-date=November 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109155952/https://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/32742491780/in/photostream/ |archive-date=November 9, 2019 |url-status=live |via=[[Flickr]] (February 18, 2017)}}.

Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 6.]]

(6) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/82c070276801cd6144f2821efaf63a6f.jpg |chapter=Title Page |title=Banneker's ALMANACK and EPHEMERIS, for the YEAR of our LORD, 1794; Being The Second After Bissextile or Leap-Year |publisher=Printed and sold by Joseph Crukshank, No. 87, High-Street |year=1793 |location=Philadelphia |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824554 |access-date=April 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426173648/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/items/show/11108 |archive-date=April 26, 2020 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 7.]]

(7) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/6d857f024d765e177a717c5e45dc2d75.jpg |chapter=Title Page |title=Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanack and ephemeris, for the year of our Lord, 1794; Being the second after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Eigtheenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776 |publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by James Angell, at his printing-office, in Market-Street |year=1793 |location=Baltimore |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824561 |access-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301154041/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/6d857f024d765e177a717c5e45dc2d75.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 8.]]

(8) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/b4a7eae10460f5e7ce48a8e6d029bcaa.jpg |chapter=Title Page |title=Benjamin Banneker's ALMANAC, for the Year of our Lord, 1794. Being the Second after Leap-Year |publisher=Printed by William Young, No. 52, Second-street, the corner of Chesnut-street |year=1793 |location=Philadelphia |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=226246930 |access-date=April 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301153343/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/b4a7eae10460f5e7ce48a8e6d029bcaa.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 9.]]

(9) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=348431 |title=The Virginia almanack, for the year of our Lord, 1794. ... / Calculated by that ingenious self taught astronomer Benjamin Banneker, a black man. ... |publisher=Printed by William Prentis |year=1793 |location=Petersburg Va. |oclc=62840340 |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605092044/https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=348431 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |url-status=live |via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 10.]]

(10) {{cite web |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |year=1794 |title=Bannaker's Bannaker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, or ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year;——the Nineteenth Year of American Independence, and the Seventh of our Federal Government——Which may the Governor of the World prosper! |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html#078 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205063345/https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html |archive-date=February 5, 2021 |access-date=February 28, 2021 |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams |via=[[Library of Congress]] |lccn=2002205264 |oclc=49848126 |location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]}} ''In'' {{cite book |title=Exhibition: Thomas Jefferson: Creating A Virginia Republic: Benjamin Banneker: Benjamin Banneker's Almanac |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |chapter=Benjamin Banneker's Almanac}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 11.]]

(11) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/a6a8f1c0bac8ba4dacf303abb9574c0f.jpg |chapter=Title Page |title=Bannaker's Wilmington almanac, or ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795; ——Being the Third after Leap-Year——; The Nineteenth Year of American Independence and the Seventh of our Federal Government——Which may the Governor of the World prosper! |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams, for Frederick Craig |year=1794 |location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]] |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824551 |access-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301163737/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/a6a8f1c0bac8ba4dacf303abb9574c0f.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 12.]].

(12) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=57 |title=Banneker's Almanac, for the Year 1795: Being the Third After Leap Year: Containing, (besides every thing necessary in an almanac,) an Account of the Yellow Fever, lately prevalent in Philadelphia, with the Number of those who died, from the First of August till the Ninth of November, 1793 |publisher=Printed for William Young, Bookseller, no. 52, the Corner of Chesnut and Second—streets |year=1794 |series=Rhistoric publications |location=Philadelphia |format=35 [[Digitization|digitized]] images |oclc=62824552}} ''In'' [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=5 Whiteman, 1969.]

(13) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332701 |title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year |year=1794 |location=Philadelphia: Printed for William Gibbons, Cherry Street |oclc=62824556 |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605152926/https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332701 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |url-status=live |via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 14.]]

(14) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year |year=1794 |location=Philadelphia: Printed for Jacob Johnson & Co., No. 147 Market-Street}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 15.]]

(15) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/856927 |title=Bannaker's Wilmington almanac, or ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795, .... |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams |year=1794 |series=Early American imprints |location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]] |oclc=22052469 |access-date=April 23, 2020 |via=[[Villanova University#Main campus|Villanova University: Falvey Memorial Library]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 16.]]

(16) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |title=Bannaker's Wilmington almanac, or ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795, Being the Third after Leap Year |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams, for W. C. Smyth |year=1794 |location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 17.]]

(17) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |title=Benjamin Bannakar's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac for 1795 |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams |year=1794 |location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 18.]]

(18) (a) {{cite book |last=Bannaker |first=Benjamin |url=http://www.librarycompany.org/visualculture/aa03.htm |chapter=Title Page (with portrait of Banneker) |title=Bannaker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanac, or Ephemeris, for the Year of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams |year=1794 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824547 |access-date=August 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813212035/http://www.librarycompany.org/visualculture/aa03.htm |archive-date=August 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |via=[[Library Company of Philadelphia]]}}

(b) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/322bf3990be3aa4b849c105b4805758b.jpg |chapter=Title Page (with portrait of Banneker) |title=Banneker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, or Ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams |year=1794 |location=Baltimore |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824547 |access-date=April 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301170637/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/322bf3990be3aa4b849c105b4805758b.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=dead |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 19.]]

(19) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=550981 |title=New-Jersey & Pennsylvania Almanac, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year, and the Twentieth of American Independence, after the Fourth of July, Containing, Besides the Usual Requisites of an Almanac, A Variety of Entertaining Matter, in Prose and Verse. To Which is Added, An Account of the Yellow Fever, in Philadelphia. The Astronomical Calculations by Benjamin Banneker, An African |publisher=Printed and Sold, Wholesale and Retail, by Mathias Day |year=1794 |location=[[Trenton, New Jersey]] |oclc=701855077 |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605092338/https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=550981 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |url-status=live |via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 20.]]

(20) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/856935 |title=Banneker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, or Ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams |year=1794 |series=Early American imprints |location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]] |lccn=2002205264 |oclc=1053444725 |access-date=April 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330034027/https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/856935 |archive-date=March 30, 2019 |url-status=live |via=[[Villanova University#Main campus|Villanova University: Falvey Memorial Library]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 21.]]

(21) {{cite book |last=Bannaker |first=Benjamin |title=The Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack for the Year of our Lord 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year |publisher=Printed by James Angell for Fisher and Cole |year=1794 |location=Baltimore}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 22.]]

(22) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |title=The Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, for the Year of Our Lord, 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year |publisher=Printed and sold by S. and J. Adams |year=1794 |location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 23.]]

(23) (a) {{cite book |last=Bannaker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/eeb6a6782a2f92e1e59d324a63d1e931.jpg |chapter=Title Page (with portrait of Banneker) |title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia ALMANAC for the YEAR of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year |publisher=Printed for And Sold by John Fisher, Stationer |year=1794 |location=Baltimore |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=1053398713 |access-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301160933/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/eeb6a6782a2f92e1e59d324a63d1e931.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}}

(b) {{cite book |last=Bannaker |first=Benjamin |url=http://www.mdhs.org/digitalimage/cover-benjamin-bannakers-sic-pennsylvania-delaware-maryland-and-virginia-almanac-year-1 |chapter=Title Page (with portrait of Banneker) |title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia ALMANAC for the YEAR of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year |publisher=Printed for And Sold by John Fisher, Stationer |year=1794 |location=Baltimore |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |access-date=March 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724093153/http://www.mdhs.org/digitalimage/cover-benjamin-bannakers-sic-pennsylvania-delaware-maryland-and-virginia-almanac-year-1 |archive-date=July 24, 2017}} ''In'' {{cite document |title=Cover: Benjamin Bannaker |location=Baltimore, Maryland |publisher=[[Maryland Center for History and Culture|Maryland Historical Society]] |year=2018}}

(c) {{cite web |title=Africans in America: Part 2: Historical Documents: Bannaker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanac, or Ephemeris, for the Year of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h68.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127015229/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h68.html |archive-date=November 27, 2020 |access-date=March 13, 2021 |publisher=[[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)]]}}

Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 24.]]

(24) (a) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.69015000003018;view=1up;seq=1 |title=Bannaker's Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina Almanack and EPHEMERIS, for the YEAR of our LORD 1796; Being BISSEXTILE, or LEAP YEAR; The Twentieth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, And Eighth Year of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. |publisher=Printed for Philip Edwards, James Keddie, and Thomas, Andrews and Butler; and Sold at their respective Stores, Wholesale and Retail |year=1795 |location=Baltimore |format=35 [[Digitization|digitized]] images |oclc=62824546 |access-date=June 13, 2017 |via=[[HathiTrust|HathiTrust Digital Library]]}}

(b) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/fc147d3c8a39a8689f27491265cc7854.jpg |chapter=Title Page |title=Bannaker's Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina Almanack and EPHEMERIS, for the YEAR of our LORD 1796; Being BISSEXTILE, or LEAP YEAR; The Twentieth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, And Eighth Year of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. |publisher=Printed for Philip Edwards, James Keddie, and Thomas, Andrews and Butler; and Sold at their respective Stores, Wholesale and Retail |year=1795 |location=Baltimore |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824546 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302215141/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/fc147d3c8a39a8689f27491265cc7854.jpg |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}}(b) 

Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 25.]]

(25) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/85b98883c94b2899f1108515468e6bfa.jpg |chapter=Title Page |title=Bannaker's Virginia and North Carolina almanack and ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1797 |publisher=Printed by William Prentis and William Y. [i.e. T.] Murray |orig-date=1796 |location=Petersburg VA |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824548 |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301192516/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/85b98883c94b2899f1108515468e6bfa.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 26.]]

(26) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/ff8f1def7545b2917ac5ed25dbcfaf91.jpg |chapter=Title Page |title=Bannaker's Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky Almanack and EPHEMERIS, for the YEAR of our LORD 1797; Being the First after BISSEXTILE or LEAP-YEAR; The Twenty-First Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, And Ninth Year of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT |publisher=Printed by Christopher Jackson, no. 67, Market-Street, for George Keatinge's book-store. [Copy right secured.] |orig-date=1796 |location=Baltimore |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824549 |access-date=April 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423142731/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/items/show/11096 |archive-date=April 23, 2020 |url-status=dead |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 27.]]

(27) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/d017654e87503d2f281d133c7c70db17.jpg |chapter=Title Page |title=Bannaker's Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky almanack and ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1797; Being the First after BISSEXTILE or LEAP-YEAR; The Twenty-First Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, And Ninth Year of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT |publisher=Printed by Samuel Pleasants, Jun. near the vendue office. By privilege |orig-date=1796 |location=Richmond |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824550 |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301185421/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/d017654e87503d2f281d133c7c70db17.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in  [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 28.]]

(28) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/224/mode/1up |chapter=Title Page |title=Bannaker's Maryland and Virginia almanack and ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1797 |publisher=Printed by Christopher Jackson, for George Keatinge's Wholesale and Retail book store, no. 140 Market-Street |orig-date=1796 |isbn=9780938420590 |location=Baltimore |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824545}} ''In'' [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/n7/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999]], p. 224. Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 29.]]</ref>[[File:BannekerAlmanac.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Title page of the Baltimore edition of Banneker's 1792 almanac and ephemeris.]]

The title pages of the Baltimore editions of Banneker's 1792, 1793 and 1794 almanacs and ephemerides stated that the publications contained:
<blockquote>
the Motions of the Sun and Moon, the True Places and Aspects of the Planets, the Rising and Setting of the Sun, Place and Age of the Moon, &c. – The [[wikt:lunation|Lunation]]s, Conjunctions, Eclipses, Judgment of the Weather, Festivals, and other remarkable Days; Days for holding the Supreme and Circuit Courts of the ''United States'', as also the useful Courts in ''Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland'', and ''Virginia.'' Also – several useful Tables, and valuable Receipts. – Various Selections from the [[Commonplace book|Commonplace–Book]] of the ''Kentucky Philosopher'', an ''American Sage''; with interesting and entertaining Essays, in Prose and Verse –the whole comprising a greater, more pleasing, and useful Variety than any Work of the ''Kind'' and ''Price'' in ''North America''.<ref name="1792 Almanac">(1) {{cite book|author=Banneker, 1791|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=1|title=Title Page|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image}}<br />(2) [https://archive.org/details/memoirbenjaminb00socigoog/page/n16/mode/1up Latrobe, pp. 10–11.]</ref><ref>(1) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1792|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/33125041885/in/photostream/lightbox|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by [[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]] and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street|title=Benjamin Banneker's almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1793; Being the first after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Seventeenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776|lccn=98650590|oclc=1053084527|access-date=March 1, 2021|at=Exhibit in [[Commemorations of Benjamin Banneker#Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum, Baltimore County, Maryland|Benjamin Banneker Museum]], [[Oella, Maryland]]. Photographer: F. Delvanthal|via=[[Flickr]] (February 18, 2017)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109165328/https://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/33125041885/in/photostream/|archive-date=November 9, 2019|url-status=live}}<br>(2) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1793|url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/6d857f024d765e177a717c5e45dc2d75.jpg|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image|title=Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanack and ephemeris, for the year of our Lord, 1794; Being the second after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Eigtheenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by James Angell, at his printing-office, in Market-Street|oclc=62824561|via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing|access-date=March 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301154041/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/6d857f024d765e177a717c5e45dc2d75.jpg|archive-date=March 1, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Benjamin Banneker woodcut, age 64.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|[[Woodcut]] portrait of Benjamin Bannaker (Banneker) in title page of a Baltimore edition of his 1795 ''Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanac''.<ref name="1795 Almanac2">Woodcut portrait of Benjamin Bannaker (Banneker) ''in'' (a) {{cite book|last=Bannaker|first=Benjamin|year=1794|url=http://www.mdhs.org/digitalimage/cover-benjamin-bannakers-sic-pennsylvania-delaware-maryland-and-virginia-almanac-year-1|chapter=Title Page (with portrait of Banneker)|title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia ALMANAC for the YEAR of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed for And Sold by John Fisher, Stationer|access-date=March 1, 2019|archive-date=July 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724093153/http://www.mdhs.org/digitalimage/cover-benjamin-bannakers-sic-pennsylvania-delaware-maryland-and-virginia-almanac-year-1|url-status=dead}} ''In'' {{cite document|title=Cover: Benjamin Bannaker|year=2018|location=Baltimore, Maryland|publisher=[[Maryland Center for History and Culture|Maryland Historical Society]]}}<br>(b) {{cite book|last=Bannaker|first=Benjamin|year=1794|url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/eeb6a6782a2f92e1e59d324a63d1e931.jpg|chapter=Title Page (with portrait of Banneker)|title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia ALMANAC for the YEAR of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed for And Sold by John Fisher, Stationer|oclc=62824557|access-date=June 5, 2020|via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]|archive-date=March 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301160933/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/eeb6a6782a2f92e1e59d324a63d1e931.jpg|url-status=live}}<br />(c) {{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h68.html|title=Benjamin Banneker's Almanac: 1795|work=Africans in America: Part 2: Bannaker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanac, or Ephemeris, for the Year of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|publisher=[[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)]]|access-date=March 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127015229/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h68.html|archive-date=November 27, 2020|url-status=live}}<br /> Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 24.]</ref>]]

In addition to the information that its title page described, the 1792 almanac contained a [[tide table]] listing the methods for calculating the time of high water at four locations along the [[Chesapeake Bay]] ([[Cape Charles, Virginia|Cape Charles]] and [[Point Lookout, Virginia|Point Lookout]], Virginia; [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]] and Baltimore, Maryland).<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/231/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 231.]<br />(2) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=5 Banneker, 1791, p. 5.] "A Tide-Table for the Chesapeake Bay."</ref> Later almanacs contained tables for making such calculations for those locations as well as for [[Boston]], [[New York City|New York]], Philadelphia, [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]], [[Quebec City|Quebec]], [[Cape Hatteras|Hatteras]], [[Nantucket]] and other places.<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/232/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 232.]<br />(2) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119&view=1up&seq=43 Banneker, 1792a, p. 34.] "RULE: To find the Time of High-Water at the following Places."<br />(3) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=60 Banneker, 1794, p. 4.] "RULE to find the Time of High-water at the following Places:"<br />(4) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.69015000003018;view=1up;seq=32 Banneker, 1795, p. 32.] "TABLE, ..."</ref> Monthly tables in each edition listed astronomical data and [[Weather forecasting|weather predictions]] for each of the months' dates.<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/225/mode/2up Bedini, 1999, pp. 225–226.]<br />(2) Banneker, 1791, pp. [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=ody_rbcmisc&fileName=ody/ody0214/ody0214page.db&recNum=6 7]–[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=ody_rbcmisc&fileName=ody/ody0214/ody0214page.db&recNum=17 18].<br />(3) Banneker, 1792a, pp. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=12 4]–[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=34 26].<br />(4) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/32742491780/in/photostream/lightbox/|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image of photograph|title=Benjamin Banneker's almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1793; Being the first after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Seventeenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776|chapter=Page for October|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by William Goddard and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street|lccn=98650590|oclc=1053084527|orig-date=1792|access-date=November 9, 2019|via=[[Flickr]]|archive-date=November 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109155952/https://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/32742491780/in/photostream/|url-status=live}} On display in the [[Commemorations of Benjamin Banneker#Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum, Baltimore County, Maryland|Benjamin Banneker Museum]], [[Oella, Maryland]]. Photographed by F. Delventhal, February 18, 2017.<br />(5) Banneker, 1794, pp. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=61 5]–[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=72 16].<br>(6) Banneker, 1795, pp. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.69015000003018;view=1up;seq=4 4]–[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.69015000003018;view=1up;seq=15 15].</ref>

A Philadelphia edition of Banneker's 1795 almanac contained a lengthy account of a [[1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic|yellow fever epidemic that had struck that city in 1793]]. Written by a committee whose president was the city's mayor, [[Matthew Clarkson (mayor)|Matthew Clarkson]], the account related the presumed origins and causes of the epidemic, as well as the extent and duration of the event.<ref>{{cite web|author=<nowiki>Committee for relieving the Sick and Distressed, appointed by the Citizens of Philadelphia, September 14, 1793</nowiki>|title=An Account of the Malignant Fever, which prevailed in Philadelphia, 1793|series=Rhistoric publications |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=73}} ''In'' [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=57 Banneker, 1794], pp. 16–39.</ref>

The title pages of two Baltimore editions of Banneker's 1795 almanac had woodcut portraits of him as he may have appeared.<ref name="1795 Almanac2"/><ref>(1) [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/193/mode/1up|Bedini, 1972, p. 193.]]<br />(2) {{cite book |author=Bannaker, Benjamin |url=http://www.librarycompany.org/visualculture/aa03.htm |title=Bannaker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanac, or Ephemeris, for the Year of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year |work= |publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams |year=1794 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |chapter=Title Page |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824547 |access-date=August 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813212035/http://www.librarycompany.org/visualculture/aa03.htm |archive-date=August 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |via=[[Library Company of Philadelphia]]}}</ref> However, a biographer later concluded that the portraits were more likely portrayals of an idealized African-American youth.<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/276/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 276.] "The woodcut represents a representation of Banneker with a tendency to idealize his appearance. It represents a Negro male in his late youth or early middle age, of medium frame. At this time, Banneker was sixty-three years of age and his physical appearance undoubtedly reflected to some degree his past illnesses and discomfort. He was described as being relatively fleshy, which leaves no doubt that the portrait was in fact no more than an artist's conjecture of his appearance."<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/290/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 290.] "The woodcut appears to have been drawn by an artist who had neither seen Banneker nor heard a description of him but who obviously intended to render an idealized portrait of a black man. It represents a Negro male of medium frame in his late youth. At this time, Banneker was in fact sixty-three years of age, suffering from arthritis or rheumatism, and his physical appearance may have reflected to some degree his past illnesses and disabilities. He was described as being relatively fleshy, with a stocky build, which leaves no doubt that the portrait was in fact no more than an artist's conception of a young male Negro youth."</ref>

A Baltimore edition of Banneker's 1796 almanac contained a table enumerating the population of each U.S. state and the [[Southwest Territory]] as recorded in the [[1790 United States census]]. The table listed the number of free persons and slaves in each state and the territory according to race and gender, as well as to whether they were above or below the age of 16 years. The table also listed the number of members of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] that each state had during the almanac's year.<ref>"[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.69015000003018&view=1up&seq=18 Population]". ''In'' [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.69015000003018&view=1up&seq=1 Banneker, 1795], p. 18.]</ref> 
[[File:James McHenry.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|<sup>{{center|[[Independence National Historical Park]], [[Philadelphia]]}}</sup>{{center|Portrait of James McHenry (ca. 1795–1800)}}]]

The almanacs' editors prefaced the publications with adulatory references to Banneker and his race.<ref name=Tise/><ref>(1) Banneker, 1791, pp. [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=2 2], [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=3 3], [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=4 4]<br />(2) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=10 Banneker 1792a, p. 2.]<br />(3)  [https://archive.org/details/memoirbenjaminb00socigoog/page/n15/mode/1up Latrobe, p. 9]: "In their editorial notice, Messrs. Goddard and Angell say, "they feel gratified in the opportunity of presenting to the public, through their press, what must be considered as an extraordinary effort of genius – a complete and accurate Ephemeris for the year 1792, calculated by a [[wikt:sable|sable]] descendant of Africa," &c. And they further say, that "they flatter themselves that a philanthropic public, in this enlightened era, will be induced to give their patronage and support to this work, not only on account of its intrinsic merits, (it having met the [[wikt:approbation|Approbation]] of several of the most distinguished astronomers of America, particularly the celebrated Mr. Rittenhouse,) but from similar motives to those which induced the editors to give this calculation the preference, the ardent desire of drawing modest merit from obscurity and controverting the long established illiberal prejudice against the blacks."</ref> Editions of Banneker's 1792 and 1793 almanacs contained full or abridged copies of a lengthy commendatory letter that [[James McHenry]],<ref>(1) United States Army Center of Military History, 1985, pp. [https://archive.org/details/jamesmchenryprep00wash/ 1]– [https://archive.org/details/jamesmchenryprep00wash/page/n1/mode/1up 2], [https://archive.org/details/jamesmchenryprep00wash/page/n5/mode/1up 6].<br>(2) {{cite book|last=Steiner|first=Bernard Christian|author-link=Bernard Christian Steiner|year=1907|url=https://archive.org/details/lifecorresponden00steine/page/n8/mode/1up|title=The Life and Correspondence of James McHenry: Secretary of War under Washington and Adams|lccn=07024607|oclc=563557689|location=Cleveland|publisher=The Burrows Brothers Company|via=[[Internet Archive]]|access-date=December 5, 2020}}</ref> the Secretary of the 1787 [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|United States Constitutional Convention]] and self-described friend of Banneker, had written to Goddard and his partner, James Angell, in August 1791 to support the almanac's publication.<ref>(1) [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/151/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 151]]. ".. in 1789 he (Goddard) took as his partner ... James Angell. The partnership continued until August 1792, during the period that Banneker's almanac was being considered for publication."<br />(2) {{cite book |title=Letter from James McHenry regarding Benjamin Banneker |date=April 20, 1791 |location=Baltimore}} ''In''  [https://books.google.com/books?id=LSkkCeq5R1AC&pg=PA114 Phillips, pp. 115–116.] "The following notice of Banneker is found, first published in his almanac for 1792, and republished with some abridgement in the one of 1793, from which we are making extracts. It was written by Banneker's esteemed admirer, [[James McHenry]], who was afterward senator of Maryland, and evidently a man who appreciated intellect whether in the soul of the black or white. ..."<br />(3) Banneker, 1791, pp. [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=2 2], [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=3 3], [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=4 4.]<br />(4) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=10 Banneker 1792a, p. 2.] "Baltimore, August 20, 1791. BENJAMIN BANNEKER, a free black, is about fifty-nine years of age... It is about three years since Mr. George Ellicott lent him Mayer's Tables, Ferguson's Astronomy, Leadbeater's Lunar Tables, and some astronomic instruments, but without accompanying them with either hint or instruction, that might further his studies, or lead him to apply them to any useful result. These books and instruments, the first of the kind he had ever seen, opened a new world to Benjamin, and from thenceforward he employed his leisure in astronomical researches. He now took up the idea of the calculations for an Almanack, and actually completed an entire set for the last year, upon his original stock of arithmetic. Encouraged by this first attempt, he entered upon his calculation for 1792, which, as well as the former, he began and finished without the least information of assistance from any person, or other books than those I have mentioned; so that whatever merit is attached to his present performance, is exclusively and peculiarly his own. I have been the more careful to investigate those particulars, and to ascertain their reality, as they form an interesting fact in the History of Man; and as you may want them to gratify curiosity, I have no objection to your selecting them for your account of Benjamin."</ref>

As first published in Banneker's 1792 almanac and later given an increased circulation when re-published in Philadelphia within ''[[The American Museum (magazine)|The American Museum, or Universal Magazine]]'', McHenry's full letter began:
<blockquote>Benjamin Banneker, a free Negro, has calculated an Almanack, for the ensuing year, 1792, which being desirous to dispose of, to the best advantage, he has requested me to aid his application to you for that purpose. Having fully satisfied myself, in respect to his title to this type of authorship, if you can agree to him for the price of his work, I may venture to assure you it will do you credit, as Editors, while it will afford you the opportunity to encourage talents that have thus far surmounted the most discouraging circumstances and prejudices."<ref>(1) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=2 Banneker, 1791, p. 2.]<br />(2) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435073185951&view=1up&seq=193 McHenry, p. 185.]</ref></blockquote>

In their preface to Banneker's 1792 almanac, the editors of the work wrote that they:<blockquote>feel themselves gratified in the Opportunity of presenting to the Public, through the Medium of their Press, what must be considered as an extraordinary Effort of Genius — a complete and accurate EPHEMERIS for the Year 1792, calculated by a [[wikt:sable|sable]] Descendant of Africa, .... — They flatter themselves that a philanthropic Public, in this enlightened Era, will be induced to give their Patronage and Support to this Work, not only on Account of its intrinsic Merit, (it having met the [[wikt:approbation|Approbation]] of several of the most distinguished Astronomers in America, particularly the celebrated Mr. Rittenhouse) but from similar Motives to those which induced the Editors to give this Calculation the Preference, the ardent desire of drawing modest Merit from Obscurity, and controverting the long-established illiberal Prejudice against the Blacks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amal50590/?sp=2|title=Image 2 of Page view|newspaper=The Library of Congress}}</ref></blockquote>

After Goddard and Angell had published their 1792 Baltimore edition of the almanac, Angell wrote in the 1793 edition (which he alone edited) that abolitionists [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]], [[Charles James Fox]] and [[William Wilberforce]] had introduced the 1792 edition into the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|British House of Commons]] to aid their effort to end the [[History of slavery#British slave trade|British slave trade]] in Africa.<ref name=Bedini190>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/190/mode/1up Bedini 1999, p. 190.]</ref><ref name=Bedini190a>(2) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1792|url=https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332704|title=Benjamin Banneker's almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1793; Being the first after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Seventeenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by [[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]] and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street|page=2|lccn=98650590|oclc=1053084527|access-date=June 4, 2020|via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]|archive-date=June 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605091352/https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332704|url-status=live}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/190/mode/1up Bedini 1999, p. 190], reference 2.</ref> However, the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]]'s report of the debate that accompanied this effort did not mention either Banneker or his almanac.<ref>{{cite book|author=Great Britain. Parliament|author-link=Parliament of Great Britain|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=11|title=The debate on a motion for the abolition of the slave-trade: in the House of Commons on Monday the second of April, 1792, reported in detail|year=1792|location=London|publisher=Printed by W. Woodfall|oclc=669400387|lccn=84221585|via=[[HathiTrust|HathiTrust Digital Library]]|access-date=November 12, 2020}}</ref>

Supported by Andrew, George and Elias Ellicott and heavily promoted by the Maryland and Pennsylvania abolition societies, the early editions of the almanacs achieved commercial success.<ref>[[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/184/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, pp. 184-187, 191, 195-197]]</ref> Printers then distributed at least nine editions of Banneker's 1795 almanac.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/195/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 195–197.] "The almanacs for 1795 enjoyed a substantially increased circulation. .... The total of at least nine known editions of Banneker's almanac for the same year was remarkable, ....".</ref> A Wilmington, Delaware, printer issued five editions for distribution by different vendors. Printers in Baltimore issued three versions of the almanac, while three Philadelphia printers also sold editions.  A Trenton, New Jersey, printer additionally sold a version of the work.<ref> [https://books.google.com/books?id=T1F1H2KUj80C&pg=PA213 Tise, 1998, p. 215.] "The 1795 edition saw three separate versions (of Banneker's almanac) published in Baltimore alone; a [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]] publisher produced five editions for various distributors; and three [[Philadelphia]] printers offered editions, as did another in [[Trenton, New Jersey]]."</ref><ref>(1) {{cite web|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.029|title=Title Page|work=Bannaker's Bannaker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, or ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year;——the Nineteenth Year of American Independence, and the Seventh of our Federal Government——Which may the Governor of the World prosper!|location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]|oclc=49848126|lccn=2002205264|publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams|year=1794|access-date=February 28, 2021|via=[[Library of Congress]]}} ''In'' {{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html#078|title=Benjamin Banneker's Almanac|work=Exhibition: Thomas Jefferson: Creating A Virginia Republic: Benjamin Banneker: Benjamin Banneker's Almanac|date=April 24, 2000 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=March 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205063345/https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html#078|archive-date=February 5, 2021|url-status=live}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 11.]<br />(2) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1794|url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/a6a8f1c0bac8ba4dacf303abb9574c0f.jpg|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image|title=Bannaker's Wilmington almanac, or ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795; ——Being the Third after Leap-Year——; The Nineteenth Year of American Independence and the Seventh of our Federal Government——Which may the Governor of the World prosper!|location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]|publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams, for Frederick Craig|oclc=62824551|access-date=March 1, 2021|via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301163737/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/a6a8f1c0bac8ba4dacf303abb9574c0f.jpg|archive-date=March 1, 2021|url-status=live}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 12.].<br>(3) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=57|title=Banneker's Almanac, for the Year 1795: Being the Third After Leap Year: Containing, (besides every thing necessary in an almanac,) an Account of the Yellow Fever, lately prevalent in Philadelphia, with the Number of those who died, from the First of August till the Ninth of November, 1793|series=Rhistoric publications |format=35 [[Digitization|digitized]] images|year=1794|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Printed for William Young, Bookseller, no. 52, the Corner of Chesnut and Second—streets|oclc=62824552}} ''In'' [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=5 Whiteman, 1969.]<br>(4) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1794|url=https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332701|title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year|location=Philadelphia: Printed for William Gibbons, Cherry Street|oclc=62824556|access-date=June 5, 2020|via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]|archive-date=June 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605152926/https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332701|url-status=live}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 14.]<br>(5) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1794|title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year|location=Philadelphia: Printed for Jacob Johnson & Co., No. 147 Market-Street}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 15.]<br />(6) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|url=https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/856927|title=Bannaker's Wilmington almanac, or ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795, ....|series=Early American imprints |location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]|oclc=22052469|publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams|year=1794|access-date=April 23, 2020|via=[[Villanova University#Main campus|Villanova University: Falvey Memorial Library]]}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 16.]<br />(7) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|title=Bannaker's Wilmington almanac, or ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795, Being the Third after Leap Year|location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]|publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams, for W. C. Smyth|year=1794}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 17.]<br>(8) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|title=Benjamin Bannakar's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac for 1795|location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]|publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams|year=1794}}
Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 18.]<br>(9) (a) {{cite book|last=Bannaker|first=Benjamin|url=http://www.librarycompany.org/visualculture/aa03.htm|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image|title=Bannaker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanac, or Ephemeris, for the Year of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|location=Baltimore, Maryland|publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams|oclc=62824547|year=1794|access-date=August 13, 2014|via=[[Library Company of Philadelphia]]|archive-date=August 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813212035/http://www.librarycompany.org/visualculture/aa03.htm|url-status=dead}}<br>(b) {{cite book|first=Benjamin|last=Banneker|url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/322bf3990be3aa4b849c105b4805758b.jpg|title=Banneker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, or Ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image|oclc=62824547|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams|year=1794|access-date=April 23, 2020|via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301170637/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/322bf3990be3aa4b849c105b4805758b.jpg|archive-date=March 1, 2021|url-status=dead}}<br /> Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 19.]<br />(10) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1794|url=https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=550981|title=New-Jersey & Pennsylvania Almanac, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year, and the Twentieth of American Independence, after the Fourth of July, Containing, Besides the Usual Requisites of an Almanac, A Variety of Entertaining Matter, in Prose and Verse. To Which is Added, An Account of the Yellow Fever, in Philadelphia. The Astronomical Calculations by Benjamin Banneker, An African|location=[[Trenton, New Jersey]]|publisher=Printed and Sold, Wholesale and Retail, by Mathias Day|oclc=701855077|access-date=June 5, 2020|via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]|archive-date=June 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605092338/https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=550981|url-status=live}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 20.]<br>(11) {{cite book|first=Benjamin|last=Banneker|url=https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/856935|title=Banneker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, or Ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1795: Being the Third after Leap-Year|series=Early American imprints |lccn=2002205264|oclc=1053444725|location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]|publisher=Printed by S. & J. Adams|year=1794|access-date=April 23, 2020|via=[[Villanova University#Main campus|Villanova University: Falvey Memorial Library]]|archive-date=March 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330034027/https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/856935|url-status=live}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 21.]<br>(12) {{cite book|last=Bannaker|first=Benjamin|title=The Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack for the Year of our Lord 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed by James Angell for Fisher and Cole|year=1794}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 22.]<br>(13) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|title=The Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia almanac, for the Year of Our Lord, 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]|publisher=Printed and sold by S. and J. Adams|year=1794}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/395/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 395, Reference 23.]<br>(14) (a) {{cite book|last=Bannaker|first=Benjamin|year=1794|url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/eeb6a6782a2f92e1e59d324a63d1e931.jpg|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image|oclc=62824557|title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia ALMANAC for the YEAR of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed for And Sold by John Fisher, Stationer|via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing|access-date=March 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301160933/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/eeb6a6782a2f92e1e59d324a63d1e931.jpg|archive-date=March 1, 2021|url-status=live}}<br>(b) {{cite book|last=Bannaker|first=Benjamin|year=1794|url=http://www.mdhs.org/digitalimage/cover-benjamin-bannakers-sic-pennsylvania-delaware-maryland-and-virginia-almanac-year-1|chapter=Title Page (with portrait of Banneker)|title=Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia ALMANAC for the YEAR of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed for And Sold by John Fisher, Stationer|access-date=March 1, 2019|archive-date=July 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724093153/http://www.mdhs.org/digitalimage/cover-benjamin-bannakers-sic-pennsylvania-delaware-maryland-and-virginia-almanac-year-1}} ''In'' {{cite document|title=Cover: Benjamin Bannaker|year=2018|location=Baltimore, Maryland|publisher=[[Maryland Center for History and Culture|Maryland Historical Society]]}}<br />(c) {{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h68.html|title=Benjamin Banneker's Almanac: 1795|series=Africans in America: Part 2: Bannaker's New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanac, or Ephemeris, for the Year of our LORD 1795; Being the Third after Leap-Year|publisher=[[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)]]|access-date=March 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127015229/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h68.html|archive-date=November 27, 2020|url-status=live}}<br />Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 24.]</ref>

====Banneker's journals====
[[File:17 Year Cicada - Brood X.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Brood X periodical cicada]]
[[File:Cicada with extensive abdomen fungus 2021-05-31 093621 1 crop.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Brood X periodical cicada with ''[[Massospora cicadina]]'' infection]]
Banneker kept a series of journals that contained his notebooks for astronomical observations, his diary and accounts of his dreams.<ref name=Glawe/><ref name=journal1>{{cite web|author=Maryland Historical Society Library Department|author-link=Maryland Center for History and Culture#Library|url=https://www.mdhistory.org/the-dreams-of-benjamin-banneker/|title=The Dreams of Benjamin Banneker|work=[[Maryland Historical Society#Library|H. Furlong Baldwin Library]]: Underbelly|publisher=[[Maryland Center for History and Culture|Maryland Historical Society]]|date=February 6, 2014|access-date=September 17, 2020|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917003106/https://www.mdhistory.org/the-dreams-of-benjamin-banneker/|url-status=live}}</ref> The journals additionally contained a number of mathematical calculations and puzzles.<ref name=Glawe/><ref name=journal1/><ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/340/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 340–343.]<br>(2) [https://archive.org/stream/sketchoflifeofbe00tyso#page/17/mode/1up Tyson, pp. 17–18.]<br>(3) [https://archive.org/details/historynegrorac05willgoog/page/n430 Williams, p. 398.]<br>(4) {{cite journal|last1=Fasanelli|first1=Florence|last2=Jagger|first2=Graham|last3=Lumpkin|first3=Bea|url=http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/convergence/benjamin-bannekers-trigonometry-puzzle|title=Benjamin Banneker's Trigonometry Puzzle|journal=Loci|volume=2|date=June 2010|publisher=[[Mathematical Association of America]]|access-date=July 23, 2017|archive-date=July 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723050150/https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/benjamin-bannekers-trigonometry-puzzle|url-status=live}}<br>(5) {{cite journal|last=Mahoney|first=John F.|date=March 2004|url=https://www.nctm.org/Publications/mathematics-teaching-in-middle-school/2004/Vol9/Issue7/Mathematical-Roots_-Benjamin-Banneker-and-the-Method-of-Single-Position/|title=Mathematical Roots: Benjamin Banneker and Single Position|journal=[[National Council of Teachers of Mathematics#Journals|Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School]]|volume=10|number=7|pages=368–371|doi=10.5951/MTMS.9.7.0368|jstor=41181944|oclc=45114561|issn=2328-5486|location=[[Reston, Virginia]]|publisher=[[National Council of Teachers of Mathematics]]|access-date=June 22, 2020|archive-date=June 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622094331/https://www.nctm.org/Publications/mathematics-teaching-in-middle-school/2004/Vol9/Issue7/Mathematical-Roots_-Benjamin-Banneker-and-the-Method-of-Single-Position/|url-status=live}}<br>(6) {{cite journal|last=Mahoney|first=John F.|url=https://www.nctm.org/Publications/mathematics-teacher/2005/Vol98/Issue6/Benjamin-Banneker-and-the-Law-of-Sines/|title=Benjamin Banneker and the Law of Sines|journal=[[National Council of Teachers of Mathematics#Journals|Mathematics Teacher]]|date=February 2005|volume=98|number=6|pages=390–393|doi=10.5951/MT.98.6.0390|jstor=27971750|oclc=1101624904|issn=0025-5769|location=[[Reston, Virginia]]|publisher=[[National Council of Teachers of Mathematics]]|access-date=June 22, 2020|archive-date=June 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622085245/https://www.nctm.org/Publications/mathematics-teacher/2005/Vol98/Issue6/Benjamin-Banneker-and-the-Law-of-Sines/|url-status=live}}<br>(7) {{cite journal|last=Mahoney|first=John F.|url=http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/convergence/benjamin-bannekers-inscribed-equilateral-triangle|title=Benjamin Banneker's Inscribed Equilateral Triangle|journal=Loci|volume=2|date=July 2010|publisher=[[Mathematical Association of America]]|access-date=February 6, 2014|archive-date=February 21, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221215046/http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/convergence/benjamin-bannekers-inscribed-equilateral-triangle|url-status=live}}<br>(8) {{cite web |last=Mahoney |first=John F.|url=http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/34224.html |title=The Mathematical Puzzles of Benjamin Banneker|work=AP Central|publisher=[[College Board]] |year=2014|access-date=July 23, 2017|archive-date=July 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723050624/https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/resources/mathematical-puzzles-benjamin-banneker |url-status=live }}.</ref>

On the day of his funeral, a fire destroyed all but one of which Banneker's journals.

The surviving journal described in April 1800 Banneker's recollections of the 1749, 1766 and 1783 emergences of [[Brood X]] of the seventeen-year [[periodical cicada]] (''[[Magicicada septendecim]]'' and related species)<ref name=":0"> [https://archive.org/details/memoirbenjaminb00socigoog/page/n17/mode/1up Latrobe, pp. 11–12.]</ref><ref name="nkwanta">{{cite journal |last1=Barber |first1=Janet E. |last2=Nkwanta |first2=Asamoah |year=2014 |title=Benjamin Banneker's Original Handwritten Document: Observations and Study of the Cicada |url=http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1070&context=jhm |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Humanistic Mathematics |volume=4 |pages=112–122 |doi=10.5642/jhummath.201401.07 |issn=2159-8118 |oclc=700943261 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827123841/http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1070&context=jhm |archive-date=August 27, 2014 |access-date=August 26, 2014 |doi-access=free |number=1}} Page 115, Fig. 3: Image of page in Benjamin Banneker's Astronomical Journal, 1791–1806. Manuscript written by Benjamin Banneker (MS 2700). Special Collection. [[Maryland Center for History and Culture|Maryland Historical Society]], Baltimore, Maryland.</ref> and described an effect that the [[pathogenic fungus]], ''[[Massospora cicadina]]'', has on its [[Host (biology)|host]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="nkwanta" /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cooley|first1=John R.|last2=Marshall|first2=David C.|last3=Hill|first3=Kathy B. R.|date=January 23, 2018|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19813-0.pdf|title=A specialized fungal parasite (Massospora cicadina) hijacks the sexual signals of periodical cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada)|journal=[[Scientific Reports]]|language=En|volume=8|number=1432|page=1432|doi=10.1038/s41598-018-19813-0|pmid=29362478|pmc=5780379|bibcode=2018NatSR...8.1432C|issn=2045-2322|publisher=[[Springer Nature]]|access-date=August 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830021718/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19813-0.pdf?error=cookies_not_supported&code=8583153f-e936-4bd8-8799-7537bd673cdd|archive-date=August 30, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> The journal also recorded Banneker's observations on the [[Beehive|hive]]s and behavior of [[honey bee]]s.<ref name=":0" /><ref>[[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/262/mode/1up|Bedini, 1972, pp. 262–263]]</ref>

===Political views===
Banneker's 1792 almanac contained an extract from an anonymous essay entitled "''On Negro Slavery, and the Slave Trade''" that the ''[[Columbian Magazine]]'' had published in 1790.<ref>(1) {{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/columbianmagazin41790phil/page/n21|title=On Negro Slavery, and the Slave Trade|journal=[[Columbian Magazine|The Columbian Magazine or Monthly Miscellany]]|date=January 1790|pages=18–19|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Printed for the Proprietors, by William Spotswood|access-date=August 31, 2019|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/175/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 175.]</ref> After quoting a statement that David Rittenhouse had made (that Negroes "have been doomed to endless slavery by us — merely because ''their'' bodies have been disposed to reflect or absorb the rays of light in a way different from ''ours''"), the extract concluded:<blockquote>The time, it is hoped ''is not very remote'', when those ill-fated people, dwelling in this land of freedom, shall commence a participation with the white inhabitants, in the blessings of liberty; and experience the kindly protection of government, for the essential rights of human nature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0214/0214033v.jpg|title=Banneker, 1791, p. 33.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301160924/http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0214/0214033v.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2019 }}</ref></blockquote>

A Philadelphia edition of Banneker's 1793 almanac that Joseph Crukshank published contained copies of pleas for peace that the English anti-slavery poet [[William Cowper]] and others had authored,<ref>Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_015 15], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_019 19], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_021 21].</ref> as well as anti-slavery speeches and writings from England and America. The latter included extracts from speeches that William Pitt, [[Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby|Matthew Montagu]] and Charles James Fox had given to the British House of Commons in 1792 during the debate on a motion for the abolition of the British slave trade,<ref>(1) Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_011 11], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_013 13].<br />(2) {{cite book|author=Great Britain. Parliament|author-link=Parliament of Great Britain|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=11|title=The debate on a motion for the abolition of the slave-trade: in the House of Commons on Monday the second of April, 1792, reported in detail|year=1792|location=London|publisher=Printed by W. Woodfall|pages=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=106 96 (M. Montegu)], [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=144 134]-[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=145 135 (Charles James Fox)], [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=160 142]-[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075911671&view=1up&seq=161 143 (William Pitt)]|oclc=669400387|lccn=84221585|via=[[HathiTrust|HathiTrust Digital Library]]|access-date=November 12, 2020}}</ref> an extract from a 1789 poem by an English Quaker, Thomas Wilkinson,<ref>(1) Banneker 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_023 23], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_025 25].<br />(2) {{cite book|last=Wilkinson
|first=Thomas, of [[Yanwath]]|title=An Appeal to England, On Behalf of the Abused Africans; A Poem|year=1789|location=London|publisher=Printed and sold by J. Phillips|oclc=83274510|lccn=27007950}}<br />(3) Discussion of Thomas Wilkinson's background, poems and influence ''in'' {{cite book|last=Manning|first=Peter J.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Me4O_ktz_IQC&pg=PA241|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Me4O_ktz_IQC&pg=printsec|chapter=Chapter 11: "Will No One Tell Me What She Sings?": ''The Solitary Reaper'' and the Contexts of Criticism|title=Reading Romantics: Texts and Contexts|pages=241–254|year=1990|location=New York|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=0195057872|lccn=89038917|oclc=607351211|access-date=February 20, 2018|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> and an extract from a query in Thomas Jefferson's 1787 ''[[Notes on the State of Virginia]]''.<ref>(1) Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_015 15], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_017 17], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_019 19].<br />(2) {{cite book|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KlbAAAAQAAJ&pg=270|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KlbAAAAQAAJ&pg=printsec|chapter=Query XVIII: Manners|title=Notes on the State of Virginia.: written by Thomas Jefferson: Illustrated with a Map, including the States of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania|location=London|publisher=Printed for John Stockdale, Opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly|year=1787|pages=270–273|access-date=February 20, 2018|oclc=24294019}}</ref><ref name="Bedini pp185-199"/>

[[File:Benjamin Rush Painting by Peale 1783.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|
<sup><div style="text-align: center;">[[Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library|Winterthur Museum]],<br />[[Winterthur, Delaware]]</div></sup>1783 [[Oil painting|oil portrait]] of Dr. Benjamin Rush by [[Charles Willson Peale]]]]
Crukshank's edition of Banneker's 1793 almanac also contained a copy of "A Plan of a ''Peace-Office'', for the United States".<ref name="1793 Almanac5">(1) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/190/mode/1up 190]–[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/191/mode/1up 191.]<br>(2) A Plan of a ''Peace-Office'', for the United States. ''In'' Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_005 5], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_007 7], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_009 9].<br>(3) [https://books.google.com/books?id=LSkkCeq5R1AC&pg=PA116 Phillips, pp. 116–119.]</ref> Although the almanac did not identify the Plan's author, writers later attributed the work to [[Benjamin Rush|Dr. Benjamin Rush]], a signer of the 1776 Declaration of Independence.<ref>(1) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=7 Whiteman, Maxwell (1969). BENJAMIN BANNEKER: Surveyor and Astronomer: 1731–1806: A biographical note] ''In'' [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112037299119;view=1up;seq=5 Whiteman, Maxwell (ed.)] "The plan for a "Peace Office" in the Government of the United States, which also appeared in this issue (Banneker's 1793 Philadelphia almanac) has been attributed to Banneker. According to Edwin Wolf 2nd, Librarian of the [[Library Company of Philadelphia]] from whose institution these copies have been made, the "Peace Office" is the work of Dr. [[Benjamin Rush]]."<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/186/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 186.] "Another important item included in the 1793 almanac was "A Plan of a Peace Office for the United States", which aroused considerable comment at the time. Many believed it to have been Banneker's own work. Even recently its authorship has been debated, but in 1947 it was identified beyond question as the work of Dr. [[Benjamin Rush]] in a volume of his own writings that appeared in that year." (Reference ([https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/361/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 361])): {{cite book|editor-first=Dagobert D.|editor-last=Runes|editor-link=Dagobert D. Runes|title=The Selected Writings of Benjamin Rush|pages=19–23|location=New York|publisher=[[Philosophical Library]]|year=1947}}) ([[E-book]] (partial text of book): {{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQf4CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQf4CAAAQBAJ&pg=printsec|chapter=A Plan of a Peace Office for the United States (1799)|editor-last=Runes|editor-first=Dagobert D.|editor-link=Dagobert D. Runes|title=The Selected Writings of Benjamin Rush|pages=29–33|oclc=928885110|isbn=9781504013062|publisher=[[Open Road Integrated Media]]|date=May 26, 2015|access-date=June 23, 2019|via=[[Google Books]]}} (Full text of book: {{cite web|editor-last=Runes|editor-first=Dagobert D.|editor-link=Dagobert D. Runes|url=https://archive.org/stream/selectedwritings030242mbp/selectedwritings030242mbp_djvu.txt|title=A Plan of a Peace Office for the United States (1799)|pages=19–23|access-date=April 6, 2020|location=New York|publisher=[[Philosophical Library]]|year=1947|via=[[Internet Archives]]}}<br>(3) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/187/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 187.] "For some unexplained reason, it was published without identifying the author. Rush included the "Plan" in a collection of essays published five years later, with substantial additions to the text." (Reference ([https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/361/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 361])): {{cite book|author=Benjamin Rush|author-link=Benjamin Rush|title=Essays, Literal and Moral|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Thomas and William Bradford|year=1798|pages=183–188}}) ([[E-book]]: {{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/DKC0021/page/n188/mode/1up|url=https://archive.org/details/DKC0021/mode/1up|chapter=A plan of a Peace-Office for the United States|title=Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical.|last=Rush|first=Benjamin, M.D.|author-link=Benjamin Rush|orig-date=1798|pages=183–188|place=Philadelphia|publisher=Thomas and William Bradford|access-date=June 13, 2019|oclc=53177918|isbn=0912756225|lccn=88080672|via=[[Internet Archive]] Digital Library}})<br>(4) {{cite book|first=Charles H.|last=Wesley|editor-first=James L.|editor-last=Conyers, Jr.|year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bjWCBHygpQ0C&pg=PA99|chapter=Biographical Studies: Carter G. Woodson—As a Scholar|title=Charles H. Wesley: The Intellectual Tradition of a Black Historian|page=99|isbn=0815327544|lccn=96037837|oclc=36029629|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|access-date=April 14, 2020}}<br>(5) {{cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/rush.html|title=Benjamin Rush: 1745-1813: Representing Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress|work=Signers of the Declaration of Independence|publisher=ushistory.org|access-date=February 7, 2018|archive-date=February 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207213452/http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/rush.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Plan proposed the appointment of a "[[Department of Peace|Secretary of Peace]]", described the Secretary's powers and advocated federal support and promotion of the [[Christianity|Christian religion]].<ref>Banneker, 1792a(2), pp. [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_005 5], [https://transcription.si.edu/view/8045/NMAAHC-2014_63_31_007 7].</ref>
====Correspondence with Thomas Jefferson====
[[File:T Jefferson by Charles Willson Peale 1791 2.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|alt=Thomas Jefferson|<sup><div style="text-align: center;">[[Independence National Historical Park]], [[Philadelphia]]</div></sup>1791 [[Oil painting|oil portrait]] of Thomas Jefferson by [[Charles Willson Peale]]]]
On August 19, 1791, after departing the federal capital area, Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, who in 1776 had drafted the United States Declaration of Independence and in 1791 was serving as [[United States Secretary of State]].<ref name=Cullen>(1) [https://archive.org/details/blackpresenceint00kap_ktt/page/140/mode/2up/search/Banneker Kaplan, pp. 140–141.]<br>(2) {{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0049|title="To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker, 19 August 1791" (with editorial notes)|work=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson|publisher=National Historical Publications & Records Commission: [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]|access-date=August 31, 2019}} (Original source: {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 22: 6 August 1791 – 31 December 1791|editor-first=Charles T.|editor-last=Cullen|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]]|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=1986|pages=49–54|isbn=9780691184654|oclc=1043555596|lccn=50007486|access-date=August 31, 2019|via=[[Google Books]])}}<br>(3) [https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA65 Allaben, pp. 65-69.]</ref><ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/155/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 155–163.]<br>(2) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=13 Banneker, 1792b(1).]<br>(3) {{cite book|first=William|last=Andrews|editor-last1=Carretta|editor-first1=Vincent|year=2001|editor-last2=Gould|editor-first2=Phillip|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ka0fBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA218|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ka0fBgAAQBAJ&pg=printsec|chapter=Benjamin Banneker's Revision of Thomas Jefferson: Conscience vs. Science in the Early American Antislavery Debate|title=Genius in Bondage: Literature of the Early Black Atlantic|pages=218–241|location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]]|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky|The University Press of Kentucky]]|oclc=903963319|isbn=9780813159461|lccn=2001002581|access-date=March 12, 2019}}<br>(4) {{cite book|last1=Freidel|first1=Frank|author-link1=Frank Freidel|last2=Sidey|first2=Hugh|author-link2=Hugh Sidey|chapter=Thomas Jefferson|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/presidentsofunit00fran/page/10/mode/2up|url=https://archive.org/details/presidentsofunit00fran/page/n2/mode/1up|title=The Presidents of the United States of America|year=2006|edition=17th|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[White House Historical Association]]|pages=10–11|isbn=1857594096|lccn=2007295201|oclc=123955305|access-date=March 2, 2018|via=[[whitehouse.gov|WhiteHouse.gov]]}}</ref> Quoting language in the Declaration, the letter expressed a plea for justice for African Americans.

To support his plea, Banneker included within his letter a handwritten manuscript of an almanac for 1792 containing his ephemeris with his astronomical calculations. He retained handwritten copies of the letter and Jefferson's August 30, 1791, reply in a volume of manuscripts that became part of a journal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA65|title=Magazine of Western History|date=June 30, 1893|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In late 1792, James Angell published a Baltimore edition of Banneker's 1793 almanac that contained copies of Banneker's letter and Jefferson's reply.<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/189/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 189–190.]<br>(2) {{cite book|last=Banneker|first=Benjamin|year=1792|url=https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332704|title=Benjamin Banneker's almanac, for the year of our Lord, 1793; Being the first after BISSEXTILE, or LEAP-YEAR, and the Seventeenth Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, which commenced July 4, 1776|location=Baltimore|publisher=Printed and sold, wholesale and retail, by [[William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)|William Goddard]] and James Angell, at their printing-office, in Market-Street|lccn=98650590|oclc=1053084527|access-date=June 4, 2020|via=General catalog of the [[American Antiquarian Society]]|archive-date=June 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605091352/https://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=332704|url-status=live}} Cited in [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/394/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 394, Reference 6.]</ref> Soon afterwards, a Philadelphia printer distributed two sequential editions of a widely circulated pamphlet that also contained the letter and reply.<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/191/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 191.]<br>(2) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=11 Banneker, 1792b.]<br>(3) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=13 Banneker, 1792b(1).]<br>(4) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=21 Banneker, 1792b(2).]</ref>

''The Universal Asylum, and Columbian Magazine'' also published Banneker's letter and Jefferson's reply in Philadelphia in late 1792.<ref name=Asylum>(1) [https://archive.org/details/universalasylum21792phil/page/222 A Society of Gentlemen]<br>(2) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00silv/page/158/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, p. 158.]</ref> The ''Magazine''{{'s}} editors (A Society of Gentlemen) titled the letter as being "from the famous self-taught astronomer, Benjamin Banneker, a black man".<ref name=Asylum/>

In his letter, Banneker accused Jefferson of criminally using fraud and violence to oppress his slaves.<ref name="Cullen" /><ref>(1) [https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA67 Allaben, p. 67.]<br>(2) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110607132841/http://etext.virginia.edu/images/modeng/public/BanLett/B24073g.jpg Banneker, 1792b(1), p. 8.]<br>(3) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/160/mode/1up 160], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/162/mode/1up 162]<br>(4) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=18&r=-0.656,-0.065,2.312,1.12,0 Banneker, 1792b(1), p. 8].</ref><ref>(1) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/160/mode/1up 160], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/163/mode/1up/ 163.]<br>(2) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=20 Banneker, 1792b(1), p. 10.]</ref>

Jefferson's reply did not directly respond to Banneker's accusations, but instead expressed his support for the advancement of his "black brethren". His reply, which writers have characterized as "courteous", but "ambiguous" and "noncommittal",<ref name=flawed>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74059227.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+31%2C+1992&author=&desc=A+Great+Man%2C+but+Flawed|title=A Great Man, but Flawed|work=OP/ED|publisher=[[The Washington Post]]|date=October 31, 1992|page=A.21|access-date=May 17, 2010|quote=Wefald writes that when Jefferson received a letter and almanac from Benjamin Banneker, Jefferson was "honest enough to change his position." [However,] Jefferson did not say that he had changed his opinion of the intellectual abilities of blacks.... Jefferson merely said: "No body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit... Closely read, Jefferson's letter is only an indication that he "wishes to see such proofs", but there is no definite indication that he changed his mind. On Banneker's abilities Jefferson was ambivalent.|archive-date=November 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102075043/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74059227.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+31,+1992&author=&desc=A+Great+Man,+but+Flawed|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200610193716/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/banneker-benjamin-1731-1806/ Johnson]."Banneker sent a manuscript copy of his work to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson along with a plea against the continuance of black slavery and received a courteous, if evasive, reply."</ref><ref name=Asim>{{cite journal|first=Jabari|last=Asim|date=October 12, 2018|url=https://yalereview.yale.edu/getting-it-twisted|title=Getting It Twisted|journal=[[The Yale Review]]|volume=106|issue=4|pages=47–59|doi=10.1111/yrev.13405|lccn=08008158|oclc=192042624|issn=0044-0124|location=[[New Haven, Connecticut]]|publisher=[[Yale University]]|s2cid=149788609|access-date=July 18, 2020|quote=<br>Jefferson’s letter in reply was tepid and noncommittal:|archive-date=June 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626171228/https://yalereview.yale.edu/getting-it-twisted|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=shane>{{cite news|first=Scott|last=Shane|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1999-02-28-9902270086-story.html|title=Two letters offer intriguing look at issue of race; Exchange: Maryland's Benjamin Banneker, son of a freed slave, elicits from Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner, a polite but vague observation on the status of blacks|date=February 28, 2020|work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=June 29, 2020|quote=<br>Jefferson replied promptly and politely – but ambiguously on the subject of slavery:}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.028/|title=Letter, Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker expressing his belief that blacks possess talents equal to those of "other colours of men," 30 August 1791.|format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image and explanatory notes|work=Manuscript/Mixed Material|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=June 29, 2020|quote=In a polite response to Banneker's August 1791 letter, Jefferson expressed his ambivalent feelings about slavery"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629014327/https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.028/|archive-date=June 29, 2020|url-status=live}} ''In'' {{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html#079|title=Exhibition: Thomas Jefferson: Creating A Virginia Republic: Benjamin Banneker: Talents equal to those of the other colors of men|date=April 24, 2000 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=February 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205063345/https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html#079|archive-date=February 5, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> stated:

<blockquote>Philadelphia Aug. 30. 1791.<br>Sir,<br>I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th. instant and for the Almanac it contained. no body 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, & that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa & America. I can add with truth that no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition both of their body & mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecillity of their present existence, and other circumstance which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the [[French Academy of Sciences|Academy of sciences at Paris]], and member of the Philanthropic society because I considered it as 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,<br>Your most obedt. humble servt.<br>Th: Jefferson<ref name="Jefferson letter1">(1) {{cite web|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.014_1009_1009/?st=text|format=[[Digitization|Digitized]] image and transcript|title=Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker, August 30, 1791|date=July 30, 1791|work=Manuscript/Mixed Material|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=April 13, 2020}}<br>(2) {{cite web|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0091|title="From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker, 30 August 1791" (with editorial notes)|work=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson|publisher=National Historical Publications & Records Commission: [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]|access-date=December 11, 2020|archive-date=August 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831193223/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0091|url-status=live}} (Original source: {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 22: 6 August 1791 – 31 December 1791|editor-first=Charles T.|editor-last=Cullen|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]]|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=1986|pages=97–98|isbn=9780691184654|oclc=1043555596|lccn=50007486|access-date=2019-08-31}})<br>(3) [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=21 Banneker, 1792b(2).]<br>(4) Allaben pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 68]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA69 69.]<br>(5) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/164/mode/1up/ 164]–[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/165/mode/1up/ 165.]</ref></blockquote>[[Marquis de Condorcet|Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet]], to whom Jefferson sent Banneker's almanac, was a noted French mathematician and abolitionist who was a member of the French [[Society of the Friends of the Blacks|Société des Amis des Noirs (Society of the Friends of the Blacks)]].<ref name=Glawe/><ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/167/mode/1up Bedini, 1972, pp. 167.]<br>(2) {{cite encyclopedia|first=Harry Burrows|last=Acton|url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas-de-Caritat-marquis-de-Condorcet|title=Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|year=2016|access-date=February 28, 2016|archive-date=January 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102005007/http://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas-de-Caritat-marquis-de-Condorcet|url-status=live}}<br>(3) {{cite web|first=David M.|last=Hart|url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/condorcet-1743-1794|title=Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat, marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794)|work=Online Library of Liberty|publisher=[[Liberty Fund|Liberty Fund, Inc.]]|date=April 10, 2014|access-date=February 28, 2016|archive-date=September 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906053030/http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/condorcet-1743-1794|url-status=live}}</ref> It appears that the Academy of Sciences itself did not receive the almanac.<ref name="Bedini pp185-199"/>

When writing his letter, Banneker informed Jefferson that his 1791 work with Andrew Ellicott on the District boundary survey had affected his work on his 1792 ephemeris and almanac.<ref name="Cullen" /><ref name="allotted">(1) Allaben, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA67 67]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=2vEQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 68.]<br>"..., but that having taken up my pen in order to direct to you as a present a copy of my Almanac which I have calculated for the Succeeding year, ..... and altho I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted therefor being taking up at the Federal Territory by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott, yet finding my Self underal several engagements to printers of this State to whom I have communicated my design, on my return to my place of residence, I industrially applied my Self thereto, ...."<br>(2) Banneker, 1792b, pp. [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=19 9]–[https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2019amimp22848/?sp=20 10]. "And altho I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted therefor being taking up at the Federal Territory by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott,  ....".</ref> 

On the same day that he replied to Banneker (August 30, 1791), Jefferson sent a letter to the Marquis de Condorcet that contained the following paragraph relating to Banneker's race, abilities, almanac and work with Andrew Ellicott:<blockquote>I am happy to be able to inform you that we have now in the United States a negro, the son of a black man born in Africa, and of a black woman born in the United States, who is a very respectable mathematician. I procured him to be employed under one of our chief directors in laying out the new federal city on the Patowmac, & in the intervals of his leisure, while on that work, he made an Almanac for the next year, which he sent me in his own hand writing, & which I inclose to you. I have seen very elegant solutions of Geometrical problems by him. Add to this that he is a very worthy & respectable member of society. He is a free man. I shall be delighted to see these instances of moral eminence so multiplied as to prove that the want of talents observed in them is merely the effect of their degraded condition, and not proceeding from any difference in the structure of the parts on which intellect depends.<ref name=Condorcet>{{cite book|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas|title=Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Marquis de Condorcet|pages=[http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004808.jpg pp. 1]– [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004807.jpg 2]|date=August 30, 1791}} Two [[Digitization|digitized]] images of letter ''in'' {{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures|title=American Treasures of the Library of Congress|date=August 2007 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=February 28, 2021}}</ref><ref>(1) {{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0092|title="From Thomas Jefferson to Condorcet, 30 August 1791" (with editorial notes)|work=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson|publisher=National Historical Publications & Records Commission: [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]|access-date=2019-08-31|archive-date=August 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831202119/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0092|url-status=live}} (Original source: {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 22: 6 August 1791 – 31 December 1791|editor-first=Charles T.|editor-last=Cullen|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]]|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=1986|pages=98–99|isbn=9780691184654|oclc=1043555596|lccn=50007486|access-date=2019-08-31}}<br />(2) {{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mtjbib005580/|title=Thomas Jefferson to Marquis de Condorcet|date=August 30, 1791|work=Manuscript/Mixed Material|format=2 [[Digitization|digitized]] images and transcripts|pages=[https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.014_1010_1011/?sp=1&st=text pp. 1]–[https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.014_1010_1011/?sp=2&st=text 2]|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=February 28, 2021}}<br />(3) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/165/mode/1uphttps://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/166/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, p. 166.]</ref></blockquote>

In 1809, three years after Banneker's death, Jefferson expressed a different opinion of Banneker in a letter to [[Joel Barlow]] that criticized a "diatribe" that a French abolitionist, [[Henri Grégoire]], had written in 1808<ref>(1) {{cite book|last=Grégoire|first=Henri|author-link=Henri Grégoire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ngRAAAAIAAJ&pg=printsec|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ngRAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA211|title=De la littérature des nègres, ou Recherches sur leurs facultés intellectuelles, leurs qualités morales et leur littérature, suivies de Notices sur la vie et les ouvrages des Nègres qui se sont distingués dans les Sciences, les Lettres et les Arts|chapter=Bannaker (Benjamin)|language=fr|publisher=Chez Maradan, Libraire|location=Paris|year=1808|pages=211–212|oclc=14928892|lccn=25020330|access-date=June 13, 2019|via=[[Google Books]]}}<br>(2) Partial English translation: {{cite book|last=Grégoire|first=Henri|author-link=Henri Grégoire|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/anenquiryconcer00wardgoog/page/n205|url=https://archive.org/details/anenquiryconcer00wardgoog/page/n9/mode/1up|title=An enquiry concerning the intellectual and moral faculties, and literature of negroes; followed with an account of the life and works of fifteen negroes & mulattoes, distinguished in science, literature and the arts; Translated by D.B. Warden|chapter=Bannaker|location=[[Brooklyn, New York]]|publisher=Thomas Kirk|year=1810|pages=187–188|oclc=25657539|lccn=68001371|via=[[Internet Archive]]|access-date=November 26, 2015}}<br>(3) Complete English translation: {{cite book|first=Henri|last=Grégoire|author-link=Henri Grégoire|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JOonnbofOgwC&pg=PA88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JOonnbofOgwC&pg=printsec|chapter=Banneker|title=On the Cultural Achievements of Negroes: Translated with notes and an introduction by Thomas Cassirer & Jean-François Brière|year=1996|pages=88–89|location=[[Amherst, Massachusetts]]|publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Press]]|isbn=0585142300|lccn=95047293|oclc=44961624|access-date=May 31, 2016|archive-date=January 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130223810/https://books.google.com/books?id=JOonnbofOgwC&pg=PA88|url-status=live}}<br>(4) Bedini, 1999, pp. [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/296/mode/1up 296]–[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/297/mode/1up 297.]</ref> saying that while "we know ourselves of Banneker. we know he had [[spherical trigonometry]] enough to make almanacs, but not without the suspicion of aid from Ellicot, who was his neighbor & friend, & never missed an opportunity of puffing him. I have a long letter from Banneker which shews him to have had a mind of very common stature indeed".<ref name="Barlow">{{cite web|last=Jefferson|first=Thomas|date=October 8, 1809|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.044_0296_0297/?st=gallery|title=Thomas Jefferson to Joel Barlow, October 8, 1809|format=2 [[Digitization|digitized]] images|work=The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress: Manuscript/Mixed Material|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref><ref>(1) {{cite book |last=Jefferson |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=printsec |title=The Writings of Thomas Jefferson; being his Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private. Published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State. |date=October 8, 1809 |publisher=Taylor & Maury |editor=Washington |editor-first=H.A. |volume=5 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=475–476 |chapter=Correspondence: To Mr Barlow |lccn=06007150 |oclc=924409 |access-date=2019-06-13 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA476 |via=[[Google Books]]}}<br />(2) {{cite web |title=Thomas Jefferson to Joel Barlow, 8 October 1809 (with editorial notes) |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0461 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831231259/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0461 |archive-date=August 31, 2019 |access-date=2019-08-31 |work=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson |publisher=National Historical Publications & Records Commission: [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]}} (Original source: {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA588 |title=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1809 to 15 November 1809 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=9780691184593 |editor-last=Looney |editor-first=J. Jefferson |location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]] |pages=588–590 |lccn=2004048327 |oclc=1045069067 |access-date=2019-08-31 |via=[[Google Books]]}})<br />(3) [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/297/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 297.]]</ref>

===Death===
[[File:Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum Feb 18, 2017, 1-47 PM edit (33003870211).jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|{{center|Replica of Banneker's log cabin in [[Commemorations of Benjamin Banneker#Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum, Baltimore County, Maryland|Benjamin Banneker Historical Park]], [[Oella, Maryland]] (2017)}}]]

For reasons that are unclear, the four editions of his 1797 almanac were the last ones that printers published.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/206/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 206–207] "Banneker's almanac for the year 1797 was the last of his almanacs to be published. ...."</ref><ref>(1)  {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/85b98883c94b2899f1108515468e6bfa.jpg |title=Bannaker's Virginia and North Carolina almanack and ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1797 |work= |publisher=Printed by William Prentis and William Y. [i.e. T.] Murray |orig-date=1796 |location=Petersburg VA |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824548 |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301192516/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/85b98883c94b2899f1108515468e6bfa.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} Cited in [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 26.]]<br />(2) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/ff8f1def7545b2917ac5ed25dbcfaf91.jpg |title=Bannaker's Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky Almanack and EPHEMERIS, for the YEAR of our LORD 1797; Being the First after BISSEXTILE or LEAP-YEAR; The Twenty-First Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, And Ninth Year of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT |work= |publisher=Printed by Christopher Jackson, no. 67, Market-Street, for George Keatinge's book-store. [Copy right secured.] |orig-date=1796 |location=Baltimore |format=image |oclc=62824549 |access-date=April 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423142731/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/items/show/11096 |archive-date=April 23, 2020 |url-status=dead |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 27.]]<br />(3) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/d017654e87503d2f281d133c7c70db17.jpg |title=Bannaker's Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky almanack and ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1797; Being the First after BISSEXTILE or LEAP-YEAR; The Twenty-First Year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, And Ninth Year of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT |work= |publisher=Printed by Samuel Pleasants, Jun. near the vendue office. By privilege |orig-date=1796 |location=Richmond |format=1 [[Digitization|digitized]] image |oclc=62824550 |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301185421/https://www.americanantiquarian.org/blackpublishing/files/original/d017654e87503d2f281d133c7c70db17.jpg |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |url-status=live |via=[[American Antiquarian Society]]: Black Self-Publishing}} [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 28.]]<br />(4) {{cite book |last=Banneker |first=Benjamin |title=Bannaker's Maryland and Virginia almanack and ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1797 |publisher=Printed by Christopher Jackson, for George Keatinge's Wholesale and Retail book store, no. 140 Market-Street |orig-date=1796 |location=Baltimore |oclc=62824545}} [[iarchive:lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/396/mode/1up|Bedini, 1999, p. 396, Reference 29.]]</ref>  After selling much of his homesite to the Ellicotts and others,<ref name=Hurry/><ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/241/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 241–251.]<br>(2) {{cite web|last=Clark|first=James W., Maryland Commission on Afro-American and Indian History and Culture, Annapolis, Maryland|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/004000/004300/004382/pdf/msa_se5_4382.pdf|title=Benjamin Banneker Homesite|work=Maryland State Historical Trust: Inventory Form for State Historic Sites Survey|date=June 14, 1976|page=16|publisher=[[Maryland State Archives]]|location=[[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], Maryland|access-date=November 15, 2015|archive-date=August 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818203231/http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/004000/004300/004382/pdf/msa_se5_4382.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> he probably died in his [[log cabin]] nine years later on October 19, 1806, aged 74.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bedini |first=Silvio A. |author-link=Silvio Bedini |date=December 2, 1999 |editor1-last=Garraty |editor1-first=John Arthur |editor1-link=John A. Garraty |editor2-last=Carnes |editor2-first=Mark Christopher |title=Banneker, Benjamin (1731–1806), farmer and astronomer |url=https://www.anb.org/search?q=Banneker%2C+Benjamin+%281731-1806%29%2C+farmer+and+astronomer |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020204621/https://www.anb.org/search?q=Banneker%2C+Benjamin+%281731-1806%29%2C+farmer+and+astronomer |archive-date=October 20, 2019 |access-date=October 20, 2019 |work=[[American National Biography]], Vol. 2, Baker-Blatch |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]], 1999 |page=116 |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1300081 |isbn=0195127811 |lccn=98020826 |oclc=963809285 |quote=Banneker, Benjamin (09 November 1731–19 October 1806), farmer and astronomer, ... |location=New York}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> (Some sources state that Banneker died on Sunday, October 9, 1806, which was actually a Thursday.)<ref name=Bedini2008/><ref>Bedini, 1999, pp.  [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/270/mode/1up 270], [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/272/mode/1up 272–273].</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mdhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photo-7.jpg|title=Obituary of Benjamin Banneker|date=October 28, 1806|publisher=Federal Gazette and Baltimore Daily Advertiser|access-date=September 17, 2020|quote=On Sunday, this 9th instant, departed this life at his residence in Baltimore county, in the 73rd year of his age, Mr. BENJAMIN BANNEKER, a black man, and immediate descendant of an African father.|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917011051/https://www.mdhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photo-7.jpg|url-status=live}} ''In'' {{cite web|author=Maryland Historical Society Library Department|author-link=Maryland Center for History and Culture#Library|url=https://www.mdhistory.org/the-dreams-of-benjamin-banneker/|title=The Dreams of Benjamin Banneker|work=[[Maryland Historical Society#Library|H. Furlong Baldwin Library]]: Underbelly|publisher=[[Maryland Center for History and Culture|Maryland Historical Society]]|date=February 6, 2014|access-date=September 17, 2020|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917003106/https://www.mdhistory.org/the-dreams-of-benjamin-banneker/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2019 |title=Benjamin Banneker (Researcher's Note: death date) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher= |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Banneker/additional-info#Researchers-Note |access-date=29 March 2025 |author-link=Encyclopædia Britannica#Staff |url-status=live |archive-url= |archive-date= |author=}}</ref> His chronic [[alcoholism]], which worsened as he aged, may have contributed to his death.<ref>(1) Tyson, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/sketchoflifeofbe00tyso#page/10/mode/1up 10],  [https://archive.org/stream/sketchoflifeofbe00tyso#page/12/mode/1up 12].<br>(2)   [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/253/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 253–254.]</ref>

Banneker never married.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Conway |first=Moncure D. |author-link=Moncure D. Conway |date=January 1863 |title=Benjamin Banneker, the Negro Astronomer |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044103018420&view=1up&seq=94 |journal=[[The Atlantic|The Atlantic Monthly]] |location=[[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]] |publisher=Ticknor & Fields |volume=11 |page=94 |via=[[HathiTrust|HathiTrust Digital Library]] |number=63}}</ref> An obituary concluded "Mr. Banneker is a prominent instance to prove that a descendant of Africa is susceptible of as great mental improvement and deep knowledge into the mysteries of nature as that of any other nation".<ref>(1) [https://archive.org/details/lifeofbenjaminba00bedi/page/272/mode/1up Bedini, 1999, pp. 272–273.]<br>(2) {{cite web|url=https://www.mdhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photo-7.jpg|title=Obituary of Benjamin Banneker|date=1806-10-28|publisher=Federal Gazette and Baltimore Daily Advertiser|access-date=2016-03-29|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917011051/https://www.mdhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/photo-7.jpg|url-status=live}} ''In'' {{cite web|author=Maryland Historical Society Library Department|author-link=Maryland Center for History and Culture#Library|url=https://www.mdhistory.org/the-dreams-of-benjamin-banneker/|title=The Dreams of Benjamin Banneker|work=[[Maryland Historical Society#Library|H. Furlong Baldwin Library]]: Underbelly|date=February 6, 2014|access-date=September 17, 2020|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917003106/https://www.mdhistory.org/the-dreams-of-benjamin-banneker/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A commemorative [[obelisk]] that the Maryland [[United States Bicentennial|Bicentennial]] Commission and the State Commission on [[African American history|Afro American History]] and [[African American culture|Culture]] erected in 1977 near his unmarked grave stands in the [[Churchyard|yard]] of the Mount Gilboa [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]] in [[Oella, Maryland|Oella]], Maryland (see [[Mount Gilboa Chapel]]).<ref>(1) [http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5859 "Benjamin Banneker" marker]. ''In'' [[Historical Marker Database|HMdb: The Historical Marker Database]]<br />(2) Coordinates of Benjamim Banneker obelisk:  {{coord|39.2749641|-76.778807|type:landmark|format=dms|name=Benjamin Banneker obelisk}}</ref>