America’s First Black Scientist - Benjamin Banneker | Sci Guys Podcast

American History tends to ignore the achievements of black people - which is why you probably haven’t heard of Benjamin Banneker… He was a polymath who went verbally toe to toe with Thomas Jefferson on the topic of slavery, was instrumental in the creation of the capital, and did so much more!
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References & Further Reading
1. www.whitehousehistory.org/ben...
2. archive.org/details/bulletinu...
3. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...
4. friendsofbenjaminbanneker.com...
5. books.google.co.uk/books?id=2...
6. www.history.com/.amp/news/cic...
7. babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...
8. www.biography.com/.amp/scient...
9. www.mentalfloss.com/article/8...
10. www.britannica.com/biography/...
11. www.wired.com/2010/02/benjami...

[@thiel_spencer]

I'm so upset that as someone who has grown up in the US my whole life that I have never heard anything about Benjamin Banneker before!

[@theafterhoursshowwithmax]

Ditto

[@ronadraymond5628]

Real American history he did real things he was the architect of Washington DC

[@dw7312]

We were taught about him in school but all they said was that he assisted with building the nation’s capital. And that’s it!

[@puffpride8344]

I find it baffling that someone who'd experienced something so close to slavery could go on to own actual slaves.

[@AMMAZZARE]

Guess who sold him into slavery to begin with….

[@sophiedixon2481]

Me in the 18th century buying a book about farming or something just to see a scientist fucking own the secretory of state

[@robblesmusic]

I don't have aphantasia, also I'd never heard of Benjamin Banneker until now, thanks for teaching me things :)

[@greyv9107]

i live in the bible belt of america and i graduated high school in 2020. i never learned about benjamin, and in fact during black history month when we were supposed to learn about influential black people in history we were only taught about harriet tubman, and we werent even taught that she had a disability. american schools fail poc consistently, which is reflected in many ways once you start looking for them (if youre white, which is the only perspective i can speak from). on a lighter note, i have aphantasia, probably pretty severe as a i cant even get an outline in my head. because of this i love books, cause i can see the story play out in words instead of pictures. great episode!!

[@lvghllgr8181]

i think it's one of my favorite episodes of sci pod, i never liked history in school, but oddly i find myself enjoying that kind of episodes from you the most, thanks :] 💚

[@Eliza_P22]

I'm currently a senior in highschool and I was never taught about him. I assume if there was ever a year that I would've been taught about Benjamin Banneker it would've been last year in US History. Especially because my teacher also taught an AP class (usually means they go more in depth and talk about slightly more controversial things). We even did a whole unit focused on how black people changed the history of the US. And we had a WHOLE WEEK focused on SLAVERY. We also learned about how history was whitewashed or sanitized which most classes wouldn't teach. We could've learned about him in 8th grade as well because that was also US History but much less in depth. I could've learned about this man in 11th grade English too because I took the social justice focused class where we learned about a few things and talked about the intersectionality of it all. We also had a whole unit focused on black people throughout history when we read The Color Purple. I could've learned about him in global studies- history or English because WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE THROUGHOUT HISTORY ALL OVER THE WORLD and how America decides to fuck up other people's governments. Global studies focused more on the different governments and social issues across the globe currently and throughout history. We learned about the motivations behind certain political events too. We had to do a social justice project for our final (I chose to do research on how to correct systematic ableism and did a podcast episode for school versus writing an essay about it). I HAVE HAD SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN ABOUT BENJAMIN BANNEKER AND I EVEN TOOK COURSES WHERE HE WOULD'VE BEEN PERFECT TO TALK ABOUT. WHAT THE HECK AMERICA. I even live in California where there is a lot more talk about all sides of any issue compared to other places in the US. WHAT THE HECK

[@beforeyourimmigrants8471]

I am a foundational black American. I did a book report on him in elementary school in the 80s. Lot of new information I didn't know here, great job. I went to Detroit public schools. In America he's known with in heavily populated fba areas

[@mikoajzmudzinski4564]

Great episode.

[@steven95N]

I played Benjamin Banneker in a Kindergarten play during Black history month. I still remember my lines 🤣, almost 20 years later.

[@donalddavis6689]

AMEN 🙏🙏.. It's Nothing Like Forgetting Who Benjamin Banneker Was And What He Invented And Drew 🖋️🖊️.

[@KristopherBel]

I Have aphantasia and I love books, I also don't experience books the way many people say "it's like a movie in my mind" but I still enjoy books. I experience them by feeling the experiences described rather than envisioning them. Of course i have no idea what any place or person in the books look like. (Although this might be an advantage as I never watch a movie of a book I've read and think "oh it's not like I imagined it" which seems to ruin a lot of movies for people who read books). I do like it when books describe the way something feels or its function rather than how it looks. I also have face blindness which I have read accompanies aphantasia frequently. This means if you replace an actor in a movie or tv series I will almost certainly not notice. In my real life it has meant that I have not been able to recognize my own parents at different times even though they were standing right in front of me, and one time a long term girlfriend dyed her hair and I walked right by her 3 or 4 times looking for her (she thought I was mad at her). I didn't learn about aphantasia until I was in my thirties but I had figured out that I didn't 'imagine' things like other people a little before I learned the concept. Last thing because this comment is long I really thought that people were speaking in metaphors when they said things like imagine, envision, picture in your mind, look at this in your memory, mind's eye, visualize, etc. it was mind blowing when I realized that people were literally doing these things.

[@leilanie7724]

Benjamin is a king for leaking the dms and CANCELLING Thomas Jefferson💅 👑

[@mispaul1693]

Excellent episode so informative!!!

[@erycnelson329]

I don't have aphantasia. I'm also an American and this is the first time I've heard of Benjamin Banneker. I'm 43, a little upset, but not at all surprised. I am also Black, so....

[@annagreene7496]

i believe i do have aphantasia. when i’m trying to picture something in my head it’s more like i’m remembering a memory rather than seeing it. i’m not sure if that makes any sense but that’s the best way i can describe it!

[@cez_is_typing]

I thought that’s how it is for everyone?? (Obviously not people with aphantasia but) You see it in your minds eye not physically in front of you like a picture??? But maybe I’m wrong

[@annagreene7496]

@@cez_is_typing i have no idea, i could be wrong!

[@ko.g.1104]

Congratulations Luke 🎉

[@tyronewilson-bey7563]

You only come across information on people like Benjamin Banneker and Noble Drew Ali when you are in search of Mastery of self

[@stephanie5293]

I DO have aphantasia. Had no idea until watching you guys though!

[@salihoutasawwuf665]

Thanks for sharing this information. There are accounts that John Hanson and Benjamin Banneker are on the reverse side of 2 dollar bill.

[@rippitydippity420]

you guys should do a episode on the theory of structural dissociation of the personality

[@Tintin-wo4wc]

I don't have aphantasia! It's always been very easy for me to create images in ma head

[@if5248]

Do the sci guys have a po box? I have a book I think you will enjoy

[@derekrogers1668]

This is not taught in American schools. I think it was mentioned in back to the future.

[@tyronewilson-bey7563]

It would be nice if you could do one on Noble Drew Ali because that is one of the same situations they have so many audio recordings and visual footage when so many people back then but they don't have it on Noble Drew Ali and that's my question as to why and I know why but I want the world to ask that question mainly Black America and White America as well as all Americans whether you our indigenous or just was born here

[@felitham8685]

greeting

[@ko.g.1104]

Corry, very few black people are discussed in US history and in little detail.

[@theafterhoursshowwithmax]

This is the first time I'm hearing about him. I have found that there is a lot of informant that wasn't taught in my school that should've been (for example, the trail of tears wasn't taught in my schooling, and I took AP American History in high school). From what I understand there isn't a federal standard of what must be taught in primary education (A.K.A. Required schooling for children through 18 years old). There are some states that have a standardized education throughout the state, but in Kentucky, we have standardized testing, to see if we were taught certain things (I think of the testing to see what is the best counties, that would in turn get the most funding, but that's my theory). Most of Kentucky's standards for education, when it comes to subjects is left up to the counties, sometimes the schools themselves. I had all my schooling in Louisville, and comparing to a friend who had all theirs in Pikeville, we had VERY different educations.

[@moneygreen3086]

You can tell how uncomfortable the white guy is.

[@cynthialowery1063]

Why start talking about the prison system, which has nothing to do with Brother Banneker or his family??? I didn’t watch the whole show, I stopped watching when I saw you guys planting the subliminal message of prison

[@SciGuys]

Because the core conceit of the show is tangents & divergent conversations based around & jumping off from the topic

[@cynthialowery1063]

@@SciGuys here’s the thing, there’s been so many lies and so much harm that has come to Black Americans, it’s not good to be careless with our-story; I saw this and didn’t like it, that being said…My Ancestors saw it too…Im just saying!!!

[@SciGuys]

I am black. I talk about the prison system in numerous episodes. I’m not going to avoid the topic just because the subject of the episode is black. The conversation turned to racism (given the racism that Banneker faced) and the prison system is a facet of that.

[@cynthialowery1063]

@@SciGuys I see you have a skin complexion that has a brownish hue, sounds like you have a non-American accent…are you Black??? If you have some ‘Ingenuous Black American blood’ then you should check yourself for being careless…Like I said I see👁you and so do my Ancestors, also my reference was only to you in my initial comment..,

[@cynthialowery1063]

@@SciGuys Ok, so I finished listening to your podcast, I see your efforts, I still stand with my statement, I see you’re not from America, these white folk, have omitted our contribution and took much of our work and given credit to themselves…did you know that Black Indigenous people were here prior to the invasion of Europeans, there were thousands of free Indigenous Blacks in America during so called slavery, you’re not going to find this information easily, but it’s there to be found…there were Blacks in Congress in the 1800’s, who voted them ??? then the great massacres were started, (early 1900’s)the most famous one was ‘Black Wall Street’ in Oklahoma, prior to that it was called Indianland (which is where Black Indigenous was driven to by Andrew Jackson) the two are not different, as they try to say…there were many other incidents like this all over the US during this period of time, Black towns were also covered by water and turned into lakes, so many atrocities all to hide and cover up OURSTORY…so please be mindful of this, which is why I took the position I did when I heard the first part of this show…so many lies…Banneker wasn’t the exception, he was a norm…Banneker didn’t help the French surveyor, that they gave credit to, Banneker knew the land, he did all the for the design of DC, he wasn’t given credit…Lewis Latimer designed the blueprint for the telephone, Bell was given credit, Latimer also was the reason the light bulb worked, Edison was given credit…Im sure you being the science guy have heard of Mr.Latimer, the average person does not…so many more

[@sannydee]

My goodness you guys talk too much. Plus it’s not about y’all! Jfc