Audrey Davis, director of the Alexandria Museum of Black History, said, “He wrote to Jefferson that he openly and unequivocally admitted that he was of African descent.” “He was proud of his race and color. He was a mathematical genius, a watchmaker, and had an interest in riddles.” and published six farmer almanacs. “He was a Renaissance man.”
Jefferson replied: “Proof, like you’ve shown, that nature has endowed our black brothers with the same talents as other men of color, and that their seeming shortfalls are simply their fault.” No one wants to see the deplorable state of their existence in both Africa and America.”
Whether or not the exchange changed Jefferson’s views on African Americans and slavery, Banneker was the only black man to challenge future presidents’ allegations of inequality during his lifetime.
Banneker died shortly thereafter in 1806 at the age of 74. He never married and had no children. Though personal ties were lost until the shock of his recent DNA testing to the descendants of the Banneker family, his scientific contributions to the United States are notable and enduring.
But it is the crumbling boundary stone that still graces the capital that serves as a daily reminder of Banneker’s contribution to those who pay attention to those passing by.
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