Banneker’s letter to Jefferson attacked slavery’s absurdity directly

Evidence

Benjamin Banneker wrote Thomas Jefferson a letter; one thousand four hundred & ninety something words— I am fully sensible of the greatness of that freedom Which I take with you… There is a school in a city filled with Black people named after Banneker, Three fifths not free persons, Indians, not free—bound To service; Three fifths bound to free persons, apportioned within this Union: & nine miles away, along a highway where even the Lord must endure traffic, is a middle school named after Jefferson. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 432

Categorization

• XREF: The Banneker–Jefferson letter is a documented primary source the reader can verify; anchors the empirical underpinnings of the poem.