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Collection Reference Number GLC06111
From Archive Folder Documents Relating to 1845 
Title Memoir of Benjamin Banneker read before the Maryland Historical Society, at the monthly meeting, May 1, 1845
Date 1845
Author Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval (1803-1891)  
Document Type Pamphlet
Content Description First edition published by John D. Toy. Honors Banneker, a free African American scientist/astronomer from Maryland who created of a series of famous almanacs. Compares Banneker to David Rittenhouse, a noted Pennsylvania astronomer and inventor. Latrobe mentions that Maryland is the only State that has created a plan for how to deal with rising concerns about African-Americans: they have chosen to appropriate money to establish a colony of freemen in Africa. Also adds that the case of Banneker is interesting in light of discussions about the comparative native intellect of blacks and whites. Includes a printed letter from Thomas Jefferson to Banneker. In this letter, Jefferson thanks Banneker for an almanac he sent, and states "Nobody wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colours of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing only to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa and America."
Subjects African American History  Science and Technology  Colonization  Africa  Slavery  President  
People Banneker, Benjamin (1731-1806)  Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval (1803-1891)  Condorcet, Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de (1743-1794)  Rittenhouse, David (1732-1796)  Toy, John D. (fl. 1822-1845)  Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)  
Place written Baltimore, Maryland
Theme African Americans; Science, Technology, Invention; The Presidency
Sub-collection The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859
Additional Information A written exchange between Banneker and Thomas Jefferson was published as a separate pamphlet and given wide publicity at the time Banneker's first almanac was published. Jefferson forwarded Banneker's correspondence to the Marquis de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. Latrobe was a noted Maryland writer, lawyer and inventor.
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859