Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was born in Baltimore County, Maryland on November 9, 1731. An astronomer, mathematician, inventor, as well as essayist and pamphleteer, he widely shared his thoughts about abolitionism and civil rights. He authored the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, which he published annually through 1797, as well as poems, essays, astronomical tables, and proverbs. He died on October 19, 1806.