Benjamin Banneker was born in 1731. Benjamin was important because he built his own wood clock. His father was born a slave. His owner let him free! So Benjamin and his family were free not like most other African Americans then. He lived on a farm with his grandmother and mother. He was a farmer in Maryland. He could take a watch apart and put it back together again. He liked writing Almanacs. His date of death was October 9, 1806.