VISIT TO BENJAMIN BANNEKER'S FARM

BENJAMIN BANNEKER’S FARM Saturday, July 09, 2016 By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman This time last week, July 2, 2016, we visited Benjamin Banneker’s farm and home outside of Baltimore, Maryland. It was a family affair for us. I was accompanied by my son, Imhotep, his two sons; my wife, Lyla; my sister, Pamela, and her husband. It was a first-time visit for all of us. This Benjamin Banneker Museum had just opened in 1998, and I became aware of it by online search, fueled by my readings. Although I had long known of Benjamin Banneker, he became fixated in my spirit when I read John Wesley Cromwell, Esq.’s brief, biographical account of his life in his book, “The Negro in American History: Men and Women Eminent in the Evolution of the American of African Descent” (1914). Cromwell’s explanation of how Banneker created his own annuity by selling off his fruit orchards on a contractual basis for an annual sliding scale sum, not only ridded him of the burden of taxation, but it also eliminated the even more baneful burdens of tenancies that perplex many landlords who so rely. The annual ephemeris or almanac, I knew about; as I did his astronomy, surveying, wood-clock-making, mathematics, paternal West-African-Dogon tribal-descent, i.e. “Bannaka;” knowledge of binary nature of Sirius star; his white grandmother, Molly, a farmer and former indentured servant from England. These things I knew. But, his self-created annuity that paid him and freed him, really resonated in me. By visiting his museum, however, and by watching a 30-minute video starring Ossie Davis, I also learned that Banneker’s famous correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, was critical to his getting his first almanac published. Banneker had sent Jefferson a copy of his ephemeris, along with his letter, to refute and to confound Jefferson’s erroneous assertion about the lack of scientific or mathematical acumen in the Negro. This was contained in Jefferson’s “Query XIV,” in his 1785 book “Notes on the State of Virginia.” By reason of this famous, epistolary exchange, between two iconic heavy-weights of science and learning, a formerly reluctant publisher relented, and then published Banneker’s Almanac for years. Thus, to the annuity, I now add, Banneker’s almanac, as a sagacious and most enterprising achievement. Banneker’s Almanacs were published 1792-1797, titled “Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris.” It was a visit and time well spent. Take your whole family to visit!