Imagine being Black in the 1700s and becoming a self-taught surveyor who played a pivotal role in planning the layout of our nation’s capital. In 1753, at the age of 22, Benjamin Banneker constructed a striking wooden clock without having ever seen a clock before (although he had examined a pocket watch). He painstakingly carved the toothed wheels and gears of the clock out of seasoned wood. The clock operated successfully until the time of his death.
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