.

However, due to a sudden illness, Banneker was only able to work for Ellicott for about three months. Mary was the daughter of an Englishwoman named Molly Welsh, a former indentured servant, and her husband, Bannka, an ex-slave whom she freed and who asserted that he came from tribal royalty in West Africa.

Because both of his parents were free, Benjamin escaped the wrath of slavery as well.

What we do know about Banneker is that he learned to read and write and attended Quaker school that taught both White and Black students. Also included was Banneker’s astronomical journal, providing future historians one of the few records of his life known to exist.

He was laid to rest at the family burial ground a few yards from his house on October 11.

Reproduced by permission of

Fisk University Library

. After he became interested in astronomy, he accurately predicted the 1789 solar eclipse, contradicting predictions of well-known mathematicians and astronomers. New York: Scholastic, 1988. George Ellicott had a large personal library and loaned Banneker numerous books on astronomy and other fields.

He was the son of an African slave named Robert, who had bought his own freedom, and of Mary Banneky, who was the daughter of an Englishwoman and a free African slave. Banneker was also the subject of a 1979 docudrama The Man Who Loved the Stars, starring Ossie Davis as Banneker. Outside of his almanacs, Banneker also published information on bees and calculated the cycle of the 17-year locust.