Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, in Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland. Both of his parents were born free, so he was able to escape the wrath of slavery. For a short time he was taught in a small Quaker school. Banneker self-educated himself in astronomy and mathematics. His first accomplishments included creating a wooden clock in his twenties that kept accurate time till fifty years later when it was destroyed in a fire. He constructed an irrigation system for his parent’s farm. He assisted in surveying land for the construction of our nation’s capital and he commonly wrote almanacs. He is mainly well known for exchanging letters with Thomas Jefferson and politely challenged him to do whatever he could to ensure racial equality. He