Who is Benjamin Benneker?

Answer 1

Although it is difficult to verify details of Benjamin Banneker's family history, it appears that he was a grandson of a European American named Molly Welsh. The story goes that Molly met a slave named Banneka when she purchased him to help establish a farm located near the future site of Ellicott's Mills (see Ellicott City, Maryland History) west of Baltimore, Maryland. This part of Maryland was out of the mainstream of the colonial South, and as result had a more tolerant attitude toward African Americans than did colonial areas in which slavery was more prevalent.[2]

Perhaps a member of the Dogon tribe, reputed to have a historical knowledge of astronomy (see Dogon and Sirius), Banneka may have cleared Molly's land, solved irrigation problems, and implemented a crop rotation for her.[3] Soon thereafter, Molly freed and married Banneka, who may have shared his knowledge of astronomy with her.[4]

Benjamin's mother, Mary, was the daughter of Molly and Banneka. Although born after Banneka's death, Benjamin may have acquired some of his grandfather's knowledge via Molly, who appears to have taught him how to read, farm, and interpret the sky as Banneka had taught her.[3] Little is known about Benjamin's father Robert, a first-generation slave who had fled his owner.[4]

As a young teenager, Banneker met and befriended Peter Heinrichs, a Quaker farmer who established a school near Banneker's family's farm. Heinrichs shared his personal library with Banneker and provided Banneker's only classroom instruction.[4] (During Banneker's lifetime, Quakers were leaders in the anti-slavery movement and advocates of racial equality in accordance with their Testimony of Equality belief.[5])

Once he was old enough to help on his parents' farm, Benjamin's formal education ended. He spent most of the rest of his life at the farm.