"Now let us look too at Benjamin Banneker. Look at his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson. Here's a man, some end part in the absolute center of slavery who laid out the plans for Washington, D.C. Here was a man who had been a slave, and his parents were slaves. One must perceive this and see that he was not caught up by that same system which will smother in an attempt to protect. And one walks down the same century and sees the list of thousands of Black people who said "I've got to break away. Thank you for your caring but I must break away." You cannot blame the family for its attempts to say, "Stay, I can hold you. As long as I can touch you I feel more secure." No matter how it says it. The family may say "You'll never make it." Whatever it says it means stay with me so I can keep my eyes on you. The family is not to be blamed for that."
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Mathematicians from the United StatesFarmersAfrican AmericansAstronomers from the United StatesScientists from Maryland
Original Language: English
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1986 interview in Conversations with Maya Angelou (1989)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Banneker
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Benjamin Banneker
Benjamin Banneker, originally Banna Ka or Bannakay, (9 November 1731 – 9 October 1806) was a free African American mathematician, astronomer, surveyor, almanac author, and farmer.
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