{"id":1417,"canonical_url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1791ce-aug-19--1417","name":"1791 CE, August 19","year":1791,"era":"CE","month":8,"day":19,"url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1791ce-aug-19--1417","iso-date":"1791-08-19","precision":"year-month-day","description":"\u003cp\u003eBenjamin Banneker, the son of a free Black American woman and a formerly enslaved African man from Guinea, \u003ca href=\"https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-22-02-0049\"\u003ewrites a letter\u003c/a\u003e to Thomas Jefferson, then-Secretary of State. On the letter, Banneker criticizes Jefferson’s hypocritical stance on slavery in respectful but unambiguous terms, using Jefferson’s own words to make his case for the abolition of slavery.\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehousehistory.org/benjamin-banneker\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","additional_details":"\u003cp\u003eJefferson brief response thanked him for the letter, expressed his ambivalence about slavery (\"…no body [sic] wishes more sincerely than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit in your letter, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colours of men\") and endorsed Banneker’s accomplishments. \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehousehistory.org/benjamin-banneker\"\u003eMore\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","photo":"","created_at":"2025-03-18T20:52:56-07:00","updated_at":"2025-08-19T11:37:10-07:00","breadcrumbs":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"August History","item":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/august"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"August 19","item":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/august-19"}]},"schema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Thing","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1791ce-aug-19--1417#eventK365","name":"1791 CE, August 19","headline":"Benjamin Banneker, the son of a free Black American woman and a formerly enslaved African man from Guinea,... - 1791 CE","description":"Benjamin Banneker, the son of a free Black American woman and a formerly enslaved African man from Guinea, writes a letter to Thomas Jefferson,...","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1791ce-aug-19--1417","additionalType":"HistoricalEvent","inLanguage":"en","datePublished":"2025-03-18T20:52:56-07:00","dateModified":"2025-08-19T11:37:10-07:00","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/#organizationK365"},"temporalCoverage":"1791-08-19","isPartOf":[{"@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/#websiteK365"},{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/august","name":"What Happened in August History"},{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/august-19#pageK365","name":"What Happened on August 19"}]}}