Banneker Circle: Vista to the Past to Benjamin Banneker,the free African American who charted the stars for the first survey of Washington,DC. Banneker was years old when he assisted surveyor Andrew Ellicott.A tobacco planter from Baltimore County, Maryland,the brilliant Banneker had taught himself mathematics and astronomy.Each night he observed the stars’ movements.Ellicott then used Banneker’s calcula- tions to determine the District’s boundaries.In addition Banneker published a series of almanacs predicting the movements of the sun, moon,and stars to guide farmers in the best timing for plant- ing and harvesting.He also was a champion of black rights,writing to Thomas Jefferson on the enormous injustice of slavery in a nation founded on Jefferson’s own declarations of freedom. This vista on ce belonged to Notley Young, a Maryland planter.He owned nearly all of today’s Southwest when President GeorgeWashington chose this area for the new nation’s capital in . Young’s bri ck mansion stood close to today’s Banneker Circle.Young owned numerous farms, and in he reported to Census takers that he owned slaves. Before the American Revolution, Maryland’s Catholics were prohibited from wor- shipping in public chu rches, so Young gathered his Catholic neighbors for Mass in his home. In Young’s grandson, Father Nicholas Young Jr., helped establish St.Dominic Church. Leading into Banneker Circle, the L’Enfant Promenade now covers the site of Young’s house. The promenade was designed by I.M. Pei and oth- ers for NewYork developerWilliam Zeckendorf. They envisioned a dramatic expanse lined with office and cultural buildings to link the National Mall and Southwest’s waterfront.Today’s Forrestal Building blocks what was intended to be a view from Banneker Circle to the Smithsonian castle.
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