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Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Black History and Blacks in U.S. History
Colonial America (1492-1776)
Benjamin Banneker - Who Was He?

Black History and Blacks in U.S. History
Black History and Blacks in U.S. History

Benjamin Banneker - Who Was He?
Print Benjamin Banneker - Who Was He? Reading Comprehension with Fourth Grade Work

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Print Benjamin Banneker - Who Was He? Reading Comprehension

Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 5
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.96

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    duplicate, eclipse, quakers, mathematics, curiosity, theory, education, schooling, lifetime, colonial, equally, scientist, perfectly, astronomy, slave, fellow
     content words:    Benjamin Banneker, Many Americans, Banna Ka, Because Molly, President Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Banneker - Who Was He?
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     Have you ever heard of Benjamin Banneker? Do you know what made him special? Many Americans have never heard of this early black American. Yet he was very important in America's colonial period.
 
2     Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731. At that time in history, if a child's mother was a slave, the child was a slave. If the mother was not a slave, the child was a free black. Benjamin's grandmother, Molly, was a white woman.
 
3     Molly worked hard. She saved enough money to buy a small farm. She bought a slave named Banna Ka. He helped her work the farm.
 
4     Molly fell in love with Banna Ka. They married. To sound more American, Molly and her husband changed their name to Bannaky. Finally, the name changed to Banneker. Molly and her husband had a daughter, Mary. Because Molly was a free woman, Mary was a free black.
 
5     Mary married a former slave. They had a son they named Benjamin. The family worked the small farm that Benjamin's grandmother Molly had owned. They didn't have a lot of money, but they were free.

Paragraphs 6 to 13:
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Black History and Blacks in U.S. History
             Black History and Blacks in U.S. History

Colonial America (1492-1776)
             Colonial America (1492-1776)

United States
             United States


    American Government  
 
    Black History and Blacks in U.S. History  
 
    Children in History  
 
    Government Careers  
 
    Hispanic Heritage  
 
    How Can I Help?  
 
 
    Immigration  
 
    National Parks and Monuments  
 
    Native Americans  
 
    Presidents of the United States  
 
    Women's History  
 

United States History
    A Nation Divided
(1840-1861) 		 
 
    A New Nation
(1776-1830) 		 
 
    After the Civil War
(1865-1870) 		 
 
    American Revolution  
 
    Cold War
(1947-1991) 		 
 
    Colonial America (1492-1776)  
 
    Lewis and Clark
(1804-1806) 		 
 
    Pearl Harbor  
 
    Spanish American War (1898)  
 
    The 1890's  
 
    The 1900's  
 
    The 1910's  
 
    The 1920's  
 
    The 1930's  
 
 
    The 1940's  
 
    The 1950's  
 
    The 1960's  
 
    The 1970's  
 
    The 1980's  
 
    The 1990's  
 
    The 2000's  
 
    The Civil War
(1861-1865) 		 
 
    The Great Depression
(1929-1945) 		 
 
    The United States Grows
(1865-1900) 		 
 
    The War of 1812  
 
    Wild, Wild West  
 
    World War I
(1914-1918) 		 
 
    World War II  
 

50 States

             Fifty States Theme Unit

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