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A Memorial to Benjamin Banneker

The Washington Interdependence Council invites you to join in on the national movement to establish a world class memorial to colonial American hero, Benjamin Banneker. This is an exciting time in the history of American historic preservation. For the first time in the nation's history, there are commemorative initiatives on the table which call for paying homage to the contributions of African-Americans. African-Americans are the only ethnic constituency without a monumental presence within the monumental core of the nation's capitol.

The Benjamin Banneker Memorial offers the country a tremendous opportunity to remedy this historical oversight and to tell the story of one of the most prolific contributors to American history. Won't you join us, with your support, in helping to honor the legacy of America's most unsung hero. You can make a difference. Do your part. Be a part of the solution. You'll be making history too!

Ode to Benjamin Banneker

Poem by Susanna Hopkins Mason
Written in 1796
[The following poem will be etched on the pedestal base
of the Banneker Memorial.]

On record now thy name's enrolled.
And future ages will be told,
There lived a man called Banneker,
An African astronomer.
Thou need'st to have a special care.
Thy conduct with thy talents square.
That no contaminating vice
obscure thy lustre in our eyes.
Or cast a shade upon thy merit.
Or blast the praise thou might'st inherit.
For folly in an orb so bright,
Will strike on each beholder's sight.
Nay, stand exposed from age to age,
Extant on some historian's page.
Now as thy welfare I intend,
Observe my counsel as a friend.
Let fair example mark thy round
Unto thine orbit's utmost bound.
"The good man's path," the scriptures say,
"Shines more and more to perfect day."