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Banneker and Jefferson's correspondence reveals Jefferson's contradictions when it comes to slavery
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Mathematician and Astronomer Benjamin Banneker Was Born
November 9, 1731
On August 19, 1791, Banneker sent a copy of his first almanac to Thomas Jefferson, then secretary of state. In an enclosed letter, he questioned the slave owner's sincerity as a "friend to liberty." He urged Jefferson to help get rid of "absurd and false ideas" that one race is superior to another. He wished Jefferson's sentiments to be the same as his, that "one Universal Father . . . afforded us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties." Jefferson responded with praise for Banneker's accomplishments.
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