On the day of Benjamin Banneker’s funeral in 1806, his log cabin burned to the ground, destroying his journals, his calculations, and the wooden clock that had kept time for over 50 years. This episode separates the verified story of the self-taught free Black mathematician and astronomer from the legends that filled the void, starting with his childhood on a 100-acre Maryland tobacco farm and his mastery of the method of double position.

We explore how he re-engineered a borrowed pocket watch into a working wooden clock, taught himself astronomy with books loaned by George Ellicott, and assisted Andrew Ellicott with astronomical observations on the 1791 survey of the federal district. We also cover his best-selling almanacs, his letter challenging Thomas Jefferson on slavery, and the 1996 auction of his surviving artifacts.

• Why scaling metal clock mechanics into wood required solving problems of grain, friction, and humidity
• The myth that Banneker redrew the plan of Washington, D.C. from memory, and what he actually did
• What an ephemeris is and why calculating one by hand demanded spherical trigonometry
• How abolitionists used his almanacs, verified by David Rittenhouse, to counter racist claims
• The false credits for America’s first clock and the cicada life cycle that grew from lost records