Mythology of Benjamin Banneker

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According to accounts that began to appear during the 1960s or earlier, a substantial mythology has exaggerated the accomplishments of Benjamin Banneker (1731–1806), an African-American naturalist, mathematician, astronomer and almanac author who also worked as a surveyor and farmer.

Smithsonian Institution Silvio Bedini (1981)

Library of Congress Daniel A. P. Murray

William J. Thompkins (c. 1911)

Shirley Graham (1946) by Carl Van Vechten

Benjamin Banneker

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Benjamin Banneker was an African-American naturalist, mathematician, astronomer and almanac author. A landowner, he also worked as a surveyor and farmer.

Library of Congress Banneker depicted in a 1943 mural by Maxine Merlino in the Recorder of Deeds Building in Washington, D.C. (2010)

View of the Patapsco Valley from Ellicott City (June 2012)

1799 portrait of Andrew Ellicott

Northeast No. 4 boundary marker stone of the original District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland (2005)