This son of a chieftain continued to carry with him not only his dignity though, but his sophisticated agricultural knowledge, and likely an astute attention to the stars (such as Sirius, the Dog Star of summer), as well as the ingenious mathematical skill that gave the Dogon a unique reputation among neighboring communities in Africa. Other writers and researchers, myself included, believe Bannaka to have been of the Dogon people of Mali, who practiced and preserved their own ancient traditions and learning.īannaka had been captured under enemy fire, sold to whites, and enslaved. Inferences from the sounds in his name point some researchers to the Wolof of Senegal. Where exactly? That isn’t known for sure. Can we say that he did not? His mother’s father, Bannaka (whose name would become the surname of his daughter, her husband, and their children), was a prince-son of a chieftain-from West Africa. Baby Benjamin was looking and listening.ĭid he hear the cicadas? Likely, with their song at approximately 105 decibels.ĭid he see them? Probably, though vision may not have been quite at 20/20 yet.ĭid he naturally note the magic rhythms of Magicicada septemdecim? Maybe. The infant can sit with support, hold up his head and chest, and roll over from front to back. There are numerous milestones for babies during this time. In May-June, 1732, there was an emergence of what we now call Brood X, the largest population of 17-year cicadas. His fascination with life led to his intellectually observing the magic and mysteries of nature and science at a very young age-perhaps younger than one might think. The injustice and discrimination of the times did not abate his curiosity. He loved the environment and greenery of the farmland around him. So how and why did this brilliant scientist, naturalist, and writer of almanacs wind up dying in a little log cabin near the family house on land that was left to him but of which he was no longer the owner? In his final days, with emancipation, Juneteenth, 60 years away, how did Banneker feel about his life-free, but not? Cicada Year 1732īenjamin Banneker was born in the antebellum south. Throughout a life of reading and self-teaching, he became an expert in farming, mathematics, land surveying, mechanical engineering, and astronomy. Robert-a man born in Africa, enslaved in America, and now a free farmer-and his freeborn African-American herbalist wife, Mary, had worked diligently to ensure this security for themselves and their children.īenjamin was born free and was born a gift to his parents and others in many ways. In 1737, his father, Robert Banneky, bought this property in his and his son’s names. The media attention around my research had me reminiscing about the man and his life, and it inspired me to again visit his home-not all that far from my own.īenjamin Banneker was born in 1731. During my visit, the area’s 17-year cicadas were visiting as well. In the summer of 2021, I visited the homestead in Oella, Maryland, that Benjamin Banneker’s father bought and built for his young son. Whose life, child or elder, will rhyme with them today? Janet Barber’s telling of the life of Benjamin Banneker makes up some of those lines. And nature writes poems in the lives of her creatures, with lines that echo and rhyme through the generations. This story, too, re-emerges-not every 17 years, but every day and every time a child’s eyes grow wide as she watches an insect, or as the plants he has cultivated bear fruit. His story begins as one of a young child attracted to and inspired by nature, and concludes as one of an elder constantly amazed and intrigued by the functioning of the world around him. November 9 marks the 290th anniversary of Benjamin Banneker’s birth. Their offspring, however, are nestled underground, sipping from tree roots as they’ll do until 2038, when they emerge to repeat their species’ astounding display. Now, like Banneker himself, those cicadas are gone. The emergence of 17-year cicadas in the summer of 2021 revived interest in a paper Janet Barber co-authored about the role of Benjamin Banneker-a free African-American in 18th-century Maryland-as one of the first naturalists to record scientific information and observations of the insects.
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