Benjamin Banneker's Almanac
On August 19, 1791, Benjamin Banneker, a free black trained as a mathematician, clockmaker, and surveyor, sent Jefferson a copy of his Almanac in an effort to change Jefferson's views on blacks' intellectual capacities that he outlined in Notes on the State of Virginia. In the accompanying letter, Banneker pleaded with Jefferson to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson never lent the "aid and assistance" Banneker sought. The correspondence between the two was published repeatedly by Banneker and his Quaker supporters. Jefferson's political enemies used this correspondence to charge that Jefferson was a secret abolitionist.
... which resulted in Jefferson being charged as a secret abolitionist. Well, who wants that? Thomas Jefferson welcomed it. The fight for Civil Rights began long before slavery became a reason for a Civil War. The immorality of slavery took one hundred years to manifest into intolerance.
