edHelper.com
Inventors and Inventions
Black History and Blacks in U.S. History

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   8.41

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    abolition, earthenware, redrawing, teaching, calculation, original, striking, astronomy, mathematical, successful, writing, irrigation, archaeologists, slavery, almanac, pewter
     content words:    Benjamin Banneker, African American, Patapsco River, United States, Pierre L'Enfant, When L'Enfant, President Jefferson, African Americans

Print Benjamin Banneker
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Benjamin Banneker  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Benjamin Banneker
     Leave your feedback on Benjamin Banneker  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Benjamin Banneker
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     Benjamin Banneker, born in 1731, may have been the first famous African American inventor. He invented and built a clock from scratch. He created his own almanac. He was also one of the original surveyors for the city of Washington, DC.
 
2     Benjamin grew up near Ellicott's Mills, Maryland on his family's farm along the Patapsco River. There he could play, experiment, and learn about nature. He also learned to read, taught first by his grandmother who used the Bible for his reading lessons. Later, when a schoolteacher moved into the valley where he lived, he was able to attend school. After that, he continued his studies on his own, teaching himself astronomy and surveying.
 
3     His family's farm was a productive tobacco farm even in dry weather, thanks to a system of irrigation devised by Banneker. He built a system of ditches and dams that carried water from the springs on the farm to wherever it was needed to water the crops.
 
4     Banneker took over the operation of the farm when he became an adult, and he continued to live there for most of his life.
 
5     When Banneker was 21, he borrowed a watch, not to wear but to take apart so that he could see how it worked. He took it all apart, drew each piece, and then put it all back together. The drawings became the model for his clock. Banneker carved all of the pieces, even the gears, from wood. He built a large wooden clock that ran for at least 40 years. It was the first striking clock built completely in the United States.

Paragraphs 6 to 11:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper