FIRST PERSON: Benjamin Banneker, my ancestor and a Black astronomer, predicted the 1789 eclipse

Total solar eclipses like Monday’s occur only when the moon is close enough to the earth to completely cover the sun. During a total eclipse the world barrels into darkness, and the onrushing shadow reminds us that we are mortals alive on a swiftly moving planet. For the first time, we can see the sun’s corona. We can see that the sun is a living fire, with spouts and tails that snap at its edges. No wonder total eclipses have sparked fear and awe in the minds of our ancestors and have caused humans throughout time to wonder about our place in the universe. As we prepare for Monday’s total solar eclipse, I am thinking of my ancestor, Benjamin Banneker — the Black scientist, mathematician, surveyor, and astronomer who lived during the Revolutionary era and whose life was changed by his prediction of an eclipse. Image of Benjamin Banneker’s 1795 almanac with a woodcut of his portrait. Photo credit: Rachel Jamison Webster Benjamin Banneker was born in 1731 in Baltimore County, Maryland, to parents who had survived both enslavement and indenture. When Benjamin was 6-years-old, his father Robert purchased 100 acres of land, putting the deed in both his and...