Benjamin Banneker: The Man Who Loved the Stars

Benjamin Banneker: The Man Who Loved the Stars - “My whole life has been a mathematical proof of what a black man can do.” - Benjamin Banneker Freeborn in 1731 in Maryland, Banneker taught himself mathematics and astronomy. He compiled all the scientific materials for the almanac which was published annually under his name during the last decade of the 18th Century, and he was part of the team of surveyors who laid down the boundaries for the new federal city of Washington under Major Andrew Ellicott. In this docu-drama, a single day late in Banneker's career provides the dramatic framework from which his personality and accomplishments, both past and present, evolve naturally. A man of tremendous accomplishments – he was a clock-maker, a farmer, an astronomer, a surveyor, a mathematician, and the creator of “Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanac” - he became a symbol in the Abolitionist argument for racial equality. For Banneker himself, the importa