Benjamin Banneker, Surveyor

Benjamin Banneker, Surveyor

1731–1806 · Maryland. A free Black farmer, largely self-taught in mathematics and astronomy.

The clock. Around 1753 he built a striking clock almost entirely of carved wood, working from a borrowed pocket watch. It kept time for decades.

The survey. In 1791 he worked with surveyor Andrew Ellicott to lay out the boundary of the new federal district that became Washington, D.C., keeping the astronomical observations that fixed its lines.

The almanacs. From 1792 he calculated and published almanacs: sunrise, tides, eclipses. He sent one to Thomas Jefferson with a letter challenging slavery.

The trade. Surveying is geometry plus patience plus the sky. Gallery G9 holds the instruments.

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