Was Benjamin Banneker the smartest man of his time?

This is smack dab in the height of the Age of Enlightenment… there were just SO MANY brilliant people living at this time period! It would be nearly impossible to determine who was the “smartest man of his time”. read more

Banneker was clearly very bright, but it’s not likely that he was the smartest man of his time. There is no accurate way to judge his intelligence. It’s possible that he was the smartest, but we can never know. read more

"Benjamin Banneker's Almanac" contained many useful facts and information Banneker had learned over the years and was a top seller from Pennsylvania to Virginia and even into Kentucky. It was important because it was one of the first published works (and the first almanac or book of"science") by an African American author. read more

Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731, in Ellicott's Mills, Maryland. A free black man who owned a farm near Baltimore, Banneker was largely self-educated in astronomy and mathematics. He was later called upon to assist in the surveying of territory for the construction of the nation's capital. read more