"Exploring the Legacy of Benjamin Banneker through Family History"

Rachel Jamison Webster's memoir-cum-biographical-sketch, Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family, traces her family's genealogy back to Benjamin Banneker, the first Black person in the US to publish an almanac and survey the boundaries for the District of Columbia. Webster's newfound Black cousins play critical and collaborative roles in helping her trace the story of their shared ancestry, ultimately giving the book its "proper form as a conversation between the present and the past." The book is more satisfying as a memoir than as a biographical sketch, and serves as a reminder of the extent to which "history — even well-researched history — is subjective and alive."