Charles A. Cerami. Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002. xiii + 257 pp. $24.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-471-38752-7.
Reviewed by Mary Beth Corrigan
Published on H-Maryland (April, 2003)
Benjamin Banneker: Fabled Genius Consid‐ Cerami efectively explains how Banneker de‐ ered veloped his intellect without formal education. Formerly the principal editor of Kiplinger His family undoubtedly provided Banneker his Washington Publications and the author of more educational foundation in the sciences and letters. than ten books on the economy, Charles A. Cerami Cerami discovers little about Benjamin's father takes a stab at historical biography with Benjamin Robert, a frst-generation slave who fed his own‐ Banneker: Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patri‐ er and then married a freeborn woman, Mary. In‐ ot. With earnest conviction, Cerami seeks appro‐ stead, he emphasizes the role of Mary's parents, priate recognition of Benjamin Banneker by the Irish-born Molly Welsh and African-born Ban‐ public. Few are aware of his accomplishments, neka, in the early education of Benjamin. Molly even though schools, museums, and other public and Banneka frst met when she purchased him places throughout the District and Maryland bear to help establish her farm. A member of the Do‐ his name. Perhaps people know that Banneker, gon tribe, known for their knowledge of astrono‐ born a free black in 1731, participated in the sur‐ my and physics, Banneka cleared Molly's land, vey of the District of Columbia. In addition, Ban‐ solved irrigation problems, and implemented a neker developed an extraordinary command of crop rotation for her. Soon thereafter, Molly freed mathematics, science, and literature, and created and married Banneka, who in turn shared his clocks, compiled almanacs, and advocated aboli‐ knowledge of engineering and astronomy with tion in his writings. Banneker's genius challenged her. Though born after Banneka's death, young prevalent assumptions regarding the inferior in‐ Benjamin acquired much of his grandfather's tellectual capabilities of men and women of knowledge via Molly, who taught him how to African descent. Cerami maintains that, in fact, read, farm, and interpret the sky just as Banneka Banneker surpassed Thomas Jeferson, James had taught her. Madison, and George Washington as a thinker. H-Net Reviews
Several well-respected and wealthy men ap‐ sumed the leading role in the design of the capi‐ preciated Banneker's talents and, in turn, nur‐ tal. More recently, Sylvio Bedini has found that tured his intellect. As a young teenager, Banneker Banneker worked on the survey two months, a met and befriended Peter Heinrichs, a Quaker fnding which has led many, though not Bedini farmer who established a school near the Bannek‐ himself, to diminish the importance of Banneker's er farm. Heinrichs shared his personal library contribution.[1] Cerami accepts the facts without with Banneker and provided his only classroom dismissing Banneker's role and points out that he instruction. He voraciously read and absorbed the held unique qualifcations and performed an es‐ language of the classics so that he could later con‐ sential task for the survey. During those months, verse comfortably with educated gentlemen. Dur‐ Banneker slept only a couple of hours at a time, as ing a chance meeting in Baltimore, Joseph Levi, a he took notes on the position of the stars to ensure European trader, showed the twenty-two-year-old the accuracy of the survey. Banneker a watch, the frst clock he had ever Banneker's participation in the survey and seen. Impressed by Banneker's curiosity and intu‐ subsequent publication of his almanac in 1791 itive understanding of the mechanism, Levi gave called his genius to the attention of white contem‐ his watch to Banneker. In subsequent months, poraries, a position that he used to challenge slav‐ Banneker took the watch apart, reassembled it ery in the new republic. Cerami maintains that perfectly, and then built his own wooden clock. the emergence of Banneker as an abolitionist rep‐ Banneker's clockmaking abilities led to his resented an about-face for him, as he did not pro‐ most important friendship, with the Ellicotts, a mote abolition during the Revolution. Throughout Quaker family whose extensive commercial, man‐ his almanacs, Banneker interspersed his meteoro‐ ufacturing, and agricultural enterprises trans‐ logical and astronomical predictions with short formed the Patapsco River region in the late eigh‐ statements of his anti-slavery philosophy. Bannek‐ teenth century. Introduced to his prominent er sent the frst edition of his almanac with a let‐ neighbors in the early 1770s, Banneker's scientifc ter of several pages to Thomas Jeferson. Written abilities particularly impressed George Ellicott, an with the sanction of the Ellicotts and listing Elias astronomer twenty years younger than Benjamin. Ellicott as the return address, Banneker in his let‐ George asked Banneker to fx a grandfather clock ter directly questioned the moral foundations of that had stumped all of the Ellicotts. After three slavery in the new republic and challenged Jefer‐ months of hard work, Banneker solved the prob‐ son's racial views, particularly his assumptions re‐ lem. The friendship with George, in particular, in‐ garding the limited intellectual capabilities of the spired Banneker to continue his studies and, in entire African race (pp. 163-167). the end, led him to compile his own almanac In his carefully worded response to Banneker, which included charts showing the position of the Jeferson did not concede racial equality and in‐ moon, stars, and planets. Between 1791 and 1797, stead revealed his own ambivalence towards Banneker published his almanac annually. race. Jeferson promptly thanked Banneker for Cerami takes an especially balanced view of the almanac and promised to forward it to the Banneker's contributions to the survey of the Academy of Sciences at Paris "because I consider newly-designated District of Columbia in 1791. it a document to which your color had a right for Andrew Ellicott led a team of surveyors, including their justifcation for the doubts which have been Banneker as the principal assistant surveyor, in entertained them." Jeferson wrote of his ardent defning the boundaries of the District. Many have desire to see a "good system" emerge that would contended that Banneker, in this position, as‐ raise the condition of the entire African race "to
2 H-Net Reviews what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of viously, such a note cannot point the reader to their present existence, and other circumstances more information about this clock. If an isolated which cannot be neglected, will admit" (pp. instance, this faw would hardly be worth noting. 168-169). As Cerami correctly points out, Jeferson Yet it is impossible to reconstruct the sources for assumed the degraded condition of the African many, if not most, of Cerami's assertions. race and hoped not for civil or economic rights This documentation style enables Cerami to within the prevailing order, but for the emer‐ ofer unsupported conjecture instead of interpre‐ gence of some other system to allow Africans and tation based upon historical facts. This tendency African-Americans to fulfll their potential, sepa‐ undermines some of his most interesting discus‐ rate from Euro-American society. sions, in particular the reception of Banneker as Banneker paid the price for his prominence. surveyor of the District of Columbia. Local white After the publication of the almanacs ceased in residents regarded Banneker as a refection of all 1797, Banneker went back to his land. Too old to African Americans. Impressed by Banneker's con‐ work the farm, Banneker frst tried to rent out his tributions, The Georgetown Weekly Ledger called land, but proved ill-suited to the task. Instead, Banneker "an Ethiopian, whose abilities as a sur‐ Banneker sold his land to the Ellicotts who agreed veyor and astronomer clearly prove that Mr. Jef‐ to purchase his farm on a deferred basis; that is, ferson's conclusion that this race of men were the Ellicotts paid Banneker in annual install‐ void of mental endowments was without founda‐ ments, but allowed him to live there until he died. tion" (p. 136). Unfortunately, this newspaper is the During these years, Banneker lived comfortably, only primary source cited as Cerami maintains but endured several threats to his life and proper‐ that most white observers, in particular George ty. At the age of 74 in 1806, Banneker died peace‐ Washington and Thomas Jeferson, regarded Ban‐ fully in the company of friends. As hundreds of neker's abilities as an anomaly at best. Washing‐ friends and admirers laid his cofn to rest, his ton hired Ellicott and presumably was aware of house burned to the ground. This fre destroyed Banneker's work, though Cerami uncovered no all of his writings, his clocks, and other instru‐ documentary evidence of their encounter. None‐ ments, except those held by the Ellicott family. theless, Cerami claims that Washington "must Cerami constructs a credible narrative of Ban‐ have been thunderstruck to fnd an African Amer‐ neker's life, but fails to document his research. He ican on the team," and that Banneker's compe‐ provides an apparently thorough list of reposito‐ tence ultimately led to his acceptance by the Presi‐ ries consulted, including the Archives of the State dent (p. 129). With the absence of direct documen‐ of Maryland, the Maryland Historical Society, the tation, Cerami could have instead provided evi‐ Howard County Historical Society, the Historical dence found in credible primary and secondary Society of Washington, and others (pp. 229-230). sources of Washington's treatment of slave and Yet he eschews footnotes and endnotes, and in‐ free black workers to discern his attitudes toward stead provides one or two paragraphs on the Banneker. sources of each chapter. Often, these descriptions Cerami likewise fails to document adequately are imprecise. "Microflms of Banneker's diaries Jeferson's racial views. Jeferson's letter to Ban‐ and notes, supplied by the Historical Society of neker is the only primary source cited by Cerami Washington, D.C., and additional microflm from in his long and somewhat muddled discussions of the Historical Society of Maryland, Baltimore, Jeferson's racial views. Given the extent of the Maryland" enabled Cerami to date Banneker's historical literature on Jeferson, this shallow pre‐ construction of a wooden clock (pp. 232-233). Ob‐ sentation is especially puzzling. In addition, Jef‐
3 H-Net Reviews ferson's response to Banneker parallels his per‐ men to secure a livelihood. During Banneker's plexed reaction to Phillis Wheatley, an African- lifetime, free blacks encountered increased re‐ born poet whose sophisticated verses impressed strictions in association, diminished economic op‐ him and challenged his racist views. Jeferson's at‐ portunities, and mounting hostility from their tempts to reconcile Wheatley's literary talents white neighbors. Without this context, readers with his racist views is well-documented and ac‐ cannot fully appreciate how Banneker created the cessible and would have helped clarify Cerami's opportunities that enabled him not only to culti‐ thinking. Likewise, Cerami does not explore Jef‐ vate his intellect but also to impress so many oth‐ ferson's moral sense of philosophy, originally ar‐ ers.[3] Few free blacks of his generation benefted ticulated during the Scottish Enlightenment and so greatly from their patrons that they could com‐ noted by scholars as the source of his racial views. municate their views to the public. By focusing his [2] appreciation on Banneker's brilliance, Cerami With even less basis, Cerami asserts that Ban‐ misses an opportunity to convey the fortitude of neker's intellect surpassed all of the Framers, ex‐ his generation of African Americans. This is un‐ cept Benjamin Franklin. Posited in the introduc‐ fortunate, as certainly Banneker deserves our tion, Cerami claims that the Framers "were bril‐ honor and respect, not in isolation, but as an out‐ liant men and some multifaceted, but unlike Ban‐ standing representation of his community. neker, they were not geniuses with the rare in‐ In writing this book, Cerami establishes Ban‐ nate ability to discover truths for themselves and neker as a seminal fgure of the early national pe‐ make them seem obvious to others" (p. x). Cerami riod, but his awkward attempts to establish Ban‐ compares Banneker to Benjamin Frankin and ex‐ neker as a genius unsurpassed even by the plores their intellectual afnity in an appendix Framers diminishes the signifcance of Banneker (pp. 221-228). Both men explored the physical sci‐ and the earliest generations of African Americans. ences, authored almanacs, and wrote prolifcally. Moreover, Cerami's book is not the ideal starting Their personal styles, the graciousness of Franklin point to begin working on an interpretation of and the gentleness of Banneker, attracted men to Banneker as a freeborn black of the eighteenth them. Of Thomas Jeferson, Cerami wrote, "[h]is century, as his documentation is sloppy. array of talents would appear to have been more Notes a matter of intellectual interest and facility in tak‐ [1]. Silvio A. Bedini, "The Survey of the Feder‐ ing up many subjects with an amateur's enthusi‐ al Territory: Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Ban‐ asm" (p. 222). neker," Washington History 3:1 (Spring/Summer Cerami's judgments are perplexing. His es‐ 1991), pp. 76-95. teem for Banneker is well-placed, but the compar‐ [2]. David Grimsted, "Anglo-American Racism ison to the Framers is misguided. The Framers and Phillis Wheatley's 'Sable Veil,' 'Length'ned held unsurpassed social and economic advantage, Chain,' and 'Knitted Heart'," in Women in the Age whereas Banneker faced obstacles common to of the American Revolution, Ronald Hofman and free blacks in eighteenth-century Maryland. Cera‐ Peter J. Albert, eds. (Charlottesville: University mi should have compared Banneker to other free Press of Virginia, 1989), pp. 338-444. blacks, since their opportunities mirrored his. Most freeborn blacks of his generation descended In March 2002, Henry Louis Gates delivered from unions between African men and inden‐ an address entitled "Mr. Jeferson and the Trials tured servant women. Like Banneker, they de‐ of Phillis Wheatley" as the Jeferson Lecture spon‐ pended upon the patronage of propertied white sored by the National Endowment for the Human‐ ities. The text of the address is not available in
4 H-Net Reviews published format, but see his "Phillis Wheatley and the African Muse," in Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, William H. Robinson, ed. (Bos‐ ton: G. K. Hall, 1982), pp. 215-282. In addition, see the documents related to Phillis Wheatley posted by the Library of Congress on its American Memo‐ ry website, =
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Citation: Mary Beth Corrigan. Review of Cerami, Charles A. Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot. H-Maryland, H-Net Reviews. April, 2003.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=7440
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