American Institute of Physics
African Americans in Astronomy and Astrophysics
A two-part lesson focuses on the contributions to the fields of astronomy and astrophysics of two African Americans: Benjamin Banneker and Dr. George Carruthers. In part one, scholars learn about Benjamin Banneker by examining his...
Center for History Education
Where Did Thomas Jefferson Stand on the Issue of Slavery?
Thomas Jefferson was a complicated man with a complex legacy. Middle schoolers examine a series of primary source documents to gather evidence for an essay in which they answer where Jefferson stood on the issue of slavery.
Education World
Black History 102
Ten facts make up an activity in which scholars match the name of a famous Black American to a personal detail or accomplishment.
Benjamin Banneker Association
Celebrate Benjamin Banneker
Inventor, astronomer, surveyor, mathematician, clock maker. Learners celebrate the life of Benjamin Banneker by building creative analog clocks, making scale models, and solving problems related to surveying. The activities model the...
Curated OER
Exploration Yesterday and Today
Learners compare and contrast the voyages of early explorers with the space explorations of the present day. After reading the biographies of Benjamin Banneker and Timothy Livengood, students create a Venn Diagram comparing and...
Curated OER
Famous Person: Benjamin Banneker
Students explain the main events in Benjamin Banneker's life and his contributions to society. They gain an appreciation for Benjamin Banneker's inventive ability to reproduce a clock as well as his determination in teaching himself...
Curated OER
African-American Inventors
For this inventors word search worksheet, students identify and locate various African-American inventors. There are 51 inventors in the puzzle to find.
Library of Congress
Loc: African Immigration: Africans in America: Life in a Slave Society
An excellent overview of the African American experience in America beginning with West Africa during the slave trade, through emancipation and reconstruction, to "New beginnings."
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Benjamin Banneker
A look at the life of a brilliant colonial American who was a mathematician, astronomer, inventor, surveyor and writer. (In Spanish)
Library of Congress
Loc: Mathematician and Astronomer Benjamin Banneker
Learn about the life and accomplishments of Benjamin Banneker, an African American mathematician and scientist. Also contains portraits and a map of New York, which can be enlarged for a closer view.
PBS
Pbs: Africans in America: Benjamin Banneker
This website describes the life of Benjamin Banneker, a free and educated black man from Baltimore, Maryland. It describes his many accomplishments.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Poets, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
The writings of four African Americans poets from the late-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries that examine slavery, abolition, and emancipation. These authors include Phillis Wheatley, George Moses Horton, James Whitfield, and...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Benjamin Banneker 1731 1806
Provides an overview of the life of Benjamin Banneker in an easy to read format. Learn why he was an accomplished mathematician, astronomer, surveyor, and almanac writer.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Benjamin Banneker
A great biography of the astronomer and inventor Benjamin Banneker that includes additional links to supplemental material for further research.
University at Buffalo
A Modern History of Blacks in Mathematics
Biographies of Blacks in mathematics from the 1700s to the present time.
Other
Black Inventors Online Museum: Benjamin Banneker
Use this site to learn about Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806 CE), an African American that created the first clock built in the United States and was known as our first great Black Inventor.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Maryland
Did you know about the Chestertown Tea Party? Why is there the Mason and Dixon line? What is a "Jimmy?" The Library of Congress provides this article of fun facts about Maryland.
Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum: Art of the Stamp: Benjamin Banneker
View the artwork of Jerry Pickney honoring Benjamin Banneker on a stamp. Banneker predicted a solar eclipse, published farmers almanacs, and was famous for many more things.
PBS
Pbs: Africans in America: Historical Document: Banneker's Letter to Jefferson
Explanation of the occasion for the writing of a letter to Thomas Jefferson by Benjamin Banneker that expresses Banneker's views on slavery and his hopes for Jefferson's support to end slavery in America. With a link to a transcript of...
University of Maryland
Early Americas Digital Archive: Copy of a Letter From Benjamin Banneker
A letter from Benjamin Banneker to Thomas Jefferson on the injustice of slavers along with a reply from Jefferson back to Banneker.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Free African Americans in the Colonial Era
Read about the ways some slaves gained their freedom and where they often lived once free.
Other
Maryland.gov: The Secretary of States Kids Pages: Famous Marylanders
This page lists famous people from Maryland, with brief biographical notes and the years they lived.
