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justphoenix ([personal profile] justphoenix) wrote2025-02-07 09:25 am

Black and STEMbruary, Day 7

7. Benjamin Banneker

Today we go back to the 18th century, or as Andy would say, "horse times".  Mr. Banneker was a free man living in a slave state. Despite recieving no formal education, he had sophisticated expertise in mechanics and astronomy. He predicted tides and eclipses. He built a clock just by looking at the way a watch was constructed. He also did surveying for what would become Washington, DC. and exchanged letters with Thomas Jefferson on the subject of civil rights.