On August 19, 1791, the accomplished American mathematician
and astronomer Benjamin Banneker wrote a letter to then-
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson corresponded prolifically with luminaries from around
the world, but Banneker is unique among them: the son of a free
Black American woman and a formerly enslaved African man from Guinea, Banneker criticizes Jefferson’s hypocritical stance on
slavery in respectful but unambiguous terms, using Jefferson’s
own words to make his case for the abolition of slavery.

Banneker himself was born free in what is now Ellicott City,
Maryland, and was encouraged in his studies of astronomy
and mathematics by the Ellicotts, a Quaker family who owned
a mill and much of the land in the area.

On July 17, 1944, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine near San
Francisco experienced a catastrophic explosion when two
ammunition ships, the SS E.A. Bryan and the SS Quinault
Victory, detonated while loading munitions for Pacific troops.

Phillis Wheatley Peters (c. 1753 – December 5, 1784)

Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American poet, used
biblical themes to persuade believers in Christ to abolish slavery.

Born around 1753 in western Africa, Wheatley was sold to a slave
trader at only seven years of age. Quickly distinguishing herself
as a remarkable student, she finally secured her emancipation in
1773.

She once wrote, “In every human Breast, God has implanted a
Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; It is impatient of
Oppression, and pants for Deliverance; and . . . the same
Principle lives in us.”

Statue of Phillis Wheatley in Boston by Meredith Bergmann, dedicated in 2003.

On June 14, 1877 Henry Ossian Flipper (1856 – 1940), born
into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia, in 1856, became the
first African American cadet to graduate from the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point, New York, earning a
commission as a second lieutenant in the United States
Army.

Flipper was also an author who wrote about scientific topics
and his life experiences.

A painting depicting Lt. Flipper near the Rio Grande River,
TX in 1880 while scouting with company A, 10th US Cavalry
Regiment.

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks
(June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000)

The first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry,
Brooks used her work to explore the urban African American
experience.