- Directed by
- Walsh, Bob
- Subject of
- Banneker, Benjamin, American, 1731 - 1806
- Directed by
- Morais, Leroy
- Produced by
- Breitenstein, Jochen
- Subject of
- Davis, Ossie, American, 1917 - 2005
- Stubbs, Louise, American, 1930 - 2001
- Pinkney, Leon, American, born 1963
- Owned by
- D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
- Date
- 1981
- Medium
- acetate film
- Dimensions
- Duration: 28 min.
- Physical extent (film): 1000 ft
- Caption
- This film was a part of the Washington D.C. Public Library's circulating 16mm film collection housed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library. The collection is particularly noted for the wide variety of African American and African diaspora content.
- Description
- Reel 1 of a two-reel historical film with the title Benjamin Banneker: The Man Who Loved Stars. It consists of a single reel of color 16mm acetate film with optical sound.
- The film opens with a young man, Greenbury Morton (Leon Pinkney), and his mother, Molly Morton (Louise Stubbs), discussing their trepidations about their ailing relative, Benjamin Banneker (Ossie Davis), traveling to Baltimore to publish his almanac as they ready a horse carriage. Shortly after, Banneker himself joins them in conversation and the trio set off to Baltimore to print the almanac. Along the ride, Molly, Banneker’s sister, discusses her brother's accomplishments, including making his first clock at twenty-two years old. Banneker also has a few flashbacks and recalls a family of Quakers, The Ellicotts, moving to his county and changing the economic landscape. He also recalls his grandmother's life, a white woman who was punished for spilling a pail of milk but later bought a farm and two enslaved persons, one of which she manumitted and married. This man, Banneker says, was his grandfather. Along the journey, the trio also encounter a few issues. At one point, they are stopped and interrogated by a white man just before Greenbury decides to help a couple who are fleeing slavery in the South.
- Place used
- Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
- Place depicted
- Baltimore, Maryland, United States, North and Central America
- Collection title
- DC Public Library Film Collection
- Classification
- Time-based Media - Moving Images
- Topic
- Antislavery
- Families
- Film
- Free communities of color
- Science
- Slavery
- U.S. History, Revolution, 1775-1783
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Object number
- 2017.55.7.1a
- Restrictions & Rights
- Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




