The Whining Nigger and Benjamin Banneker - 1344 Words

It is theorized that the phrase â€Å"angry Black man† is a social construct created during America’s Colonial period. It was supposedly used to negatively describe an African-American men who spoke out against what they considered to be an incongruous and xenophobic society and more specifically the institution of slavery. The phrase’s essence had been intentionally misconstrued. The three words together were said to have been used by whites as a dismissive tool; a method of sabotaging the validity of an outspoken Black man’s claims of an unjust and oppressive system. This was done in an effort to detract from the legitimacy of the outraged Black man’s cries of injustice. Purportedly, Abolitionist and Black male orators of the time were†¦show more content†¦This was an inherited line of work at which he made a modest living. Although, his life was still filled with great achievements. It is held that in 1753, Banneker borrowed a pocket wat ch from a wealthy neighbor. He then unassembled the watch and made a drawing of each component. Next, Banneker reassembled the watch and returned it, fully functioning and keeping the correct time, to its owner. From his illustrations Banneker then proceeded to carve, out of wood, large scale models of each part. He had calculated the appropriate number of teeth for each gear and the necessary connections between the machinery, and then constructed an operating wooden clock that kept accurate time and struck the hours for over 50 years. At the age of 58, in spite of the popular prejudices of his time, Banneker had adopted the mindset that that nothing - not his age nor his race - would stand in the way of his desire for further intellectual development. He began to study astronomy and was soon adept at predicting astrophysical anomalies. Like Banneker, Andrew Ellicott was a mathematician, amateur astronomer, and despised the institution of slavery. In 1788, with tools and books borrowed from Ellicott, Banneker came very close to accurately predicting the timing of an eclipse of the sun. He later discovered that a minor error in his calculations had been due to a discrepancy in his expert sources and not a miscalculation on his behalf. In 1791, because of his long-time