“At age twenty-eight, [Benjamin Banneker] the young clockmaker fell in love with Anola, a beautiful slave on a nearby plantation. He could marry her legally only if she were free, but her master refused to sell her to Banneker, saying, ‘I will never sell her to a Negro!’ Banneker devised an elaborate plan to steal her. He booked passage for them both on a ship to England, but his plan failed and almost cost him his life. A short time later, Anola, brokenhearted, drowned herself. Banneker vowed to keep her memory alive, and he never married.” -From, “African American Inventors” By: Otha Richard Sullivan
Leave a Reply