On 19 August 1791 Benjamin Banneker sent a long letter to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, along with a copy of his almanac. I t was a bold plea to the author of. the Declaration of In-dependence to apply the same sentiments of liberty to the Negro:

Sir, I am fully sensible of the greatness of that freedom, which I take with you on the present occasion; a liberty which Seemed to me Scarcely allowable, when I reflected on that distinguished and dignified station in which you Stand, and the almost general prejudice and prepossession, which is so prevalent in the world against those of my complexion . . . . It [needs no] proof here, that we are a race of Beings, who have long labored under the abuse and censure of the world; that we have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt; and that we have long...