Benjamin Banneker — American Scientist born on November 09, 1731, died on October 09, 1806

Benjamin Banneker was a free African American almanac author, surveyor, naturalist and farmer. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, to a free African American woman and a former slave, Banneker had little formal education and was largely self-taught. He is known for being part of a group led by Major Andrew Ellicott that surveyed the borders of the original District of Columbia, the federal capital district of the United States... (wikipedia)

Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects bad manners.
Standing at my door, I heard the discharge of a gun, and in four or five seconds of time, after the discharge, the small shot came rattling about me, one or two of which struck the house; which plainly demonstrates that the velocity of sound is greater than that of a cannon bullet.
I am of the African race, and in the colour which is natural to them of the deepest dye; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.
Were there no uniforms, there would probably be no armies.
The colour of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers.