Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Bannekerwas a free African American almanac author, surveyor, naturalist and farmer. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, to a free African American woman and a former slave, Banneker had little formal education and was largely self-taught. He is known for being part of a group led by Major Andrew Ellicott that surveyed the borders of the original District of Columbia, the federal capital district of the United States...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth9 November 1731
CityBaltimore, MD
CountryUnited States of America
How pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges, which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves
I have no influence with the rising generation. All my arguments have failed to induce them to set bounds to their wants.
Standing at my door, I heard the discharge of a gun, and in four or five seconds of time, after the discharge, the small shot came rattling about me, one or two of which struck the house; which plainly demonstrates that the velocity of sound is greater than that of a cannon bullet.
Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects bad manners.
I am of the African race, and in the colour which is natural to them of the deepest dye; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.
Never abandon your vision. Keep reaching to further your dreams.
The colour of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers.
Presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to us, nor despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties.
It is the indispensable duty of those, who maintain for themselves the rights of human nature, and who possess the obligations of Christianity, to extend their power and influence to the relief of every part of the human race from whatever burden or oppression they may unjustly labor under.
Let a Secretary of Peace be appointed.
Were there no uniforms, there would probably be no armies.