African American Inventors

2/10/04 | Arpege92

[Arpege92]

NORBERT RILLIEUX (1806-1894) The son of a freed slave, American chemist and inventor Norbert Rillieux revolutionized the sugar industry by inventing a device to remove the water from the juices or sugarcane and sugar beets to produce dry sugar. This invention enabled a purer sugar product, cost less money, and was far less dangerous to workers than previous methods.

ELIJAH MCCOY (1844-1929) This American inventor is best known for inventing ingenious devices to lubricate heavy machiner automatically. His devices were so reliable that people often asked if machinery contained "the real McCoy," likely giving rise to this enduring expression.

LEWIS HOWARD LATIMER (1848-1928) Although he received seven patents for his inventions, mechanical draftsman and inventor Lewis Latimer is best remembered for his key contributions to the incandescent light bulb. In 1881 he patented an electric lamp with an inexpensive carbon filament and a threaded wooden socket. He later joined Thomas Alva Edison's team of inventors and wrote the first known book on electric lighting.

JAN E MATZELIGER (1852-1889) As an American artist and inventor Jan E Matzeliger is most famous for designing and creating a machine that stretched leather shoe uppers around a foot shaped model, or last. Before introducing his machine, highly skilled artisans lasted a maximum of 50 pairs of shoes a day. His automaitc shoe lasting machine revolutionized the shoemaking industry, producing as many as 700 pairs of shoes in a single day.

GRANVILLE T. WOODS (1856-1910) Forced to quit school when he was only ten years old, American railroad engineer and inventor Granville T Woods patented a remarkable 35 electrical and mechanical devices during his prolific career. Woods received his first patent in 1884 for a steam boiler furnace. His many later patents included a system that enabled telegraph lines to carry voice signals; an induction telegraph for sending messages to and from moving trains; and electromechanical and electromagnetic railway brakes.

SARAH WALKER (1857-1919) Sarah Walker created a line of hair-care products especially for black women. The daughter of Louisiana sharecroppers and nicknamed "Madame C.J.," was the first woman to sell products via mail order and to organize a nationwide membership of door-to-door agents. Madame C.J. is best remembered as one of the first American women of any race to become a millionaire through her own efforts.

GARRETT A. MORGAN (1877-1963) The son of former slaves, businessman and inventor Garrett A. Morgan patented the first traffic signal in 1923. Morgan made national news when he used another of his inventions -- the gas mask --to rescue several men trapped in a tunnel beneath Lake Erie. Morgan's mask was soon adopted by firemen around the world, and was also refined for use by the United States Army during World War I.

FREDERICK MCKINLEY JONES (1893-1961) This World War I veteran is most remembered for introducing the first practical refridgeration system for trucks and railroad cars, a system that completely changed the food transport industry. Jones was responsible for a phenomenal 60 patents during his lifetime, 40 for refridgeration equipment alone.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER (1864-1943) Born on a Missouri farm to slave parents, George Washington Carver developed several hundred industrial uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, and developed a new type of cotton knows as Carver's hybrid. Carver is credited with introducing crop rotation to farmers in the southern United States, thereby revolutionizing the American farming industry.

CHARLES RICHARD DREW, M.D. (1904-1950) This American surgeon conducted pioneering work in blood storage and transfusion techniques. Drew showed that blood plasma lasts longer than whole blood, a medical breakthrough that enabled the creation of the modern blood bank. In 1939, Dr. Drew used his new understanding of blood storage and transfusion to help establish the first blood banks to serve the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II. He went on to become the first director of the American Red Cross Blood Bank.

[cyborg]

Jan Matzelieger was neither African nor American. Born in Suriname, mother was Surinamese and father was Dutch and came here when he was older.

[cyborg]

My mother read me Aesop's fables when I was little. I wonder if some kids today even know what a fable is.

[U S Army EOD]

In case you haven't figured it out already, South Africa is in the most southern part of Africa. If you head south from there you will drown.

[U S Army EOD]

When Garrett Morgan rescued these people that were trapped using his mask, he had to pass himself off as an indian in order to be allowed to rescue these people.

[SauronOfMordor]

This reminds me of the time my first grade son's reader informed me that Aesop was an African storyteller. That he was born on the island of Samos (off the coast of Turkey) and spent most of his life in Greece didn't count.

Probably somebody made the false connection: Aesop was a slave storyteller, therefore Aesop was black, because all slaves were black

[puroresu]

Good list! Thanks for posting it!

[puroresu]

The public schools today read Democrat Fables to the kids, such as the story of the ant and the grasshopper. The ant works hard all summer to save up for winter, while the grasshopper lays around and does nothing. When wintertime comes, the government takes away most of the food the ant saved up, and gives it to the grasshopper. The moral of the story is that the ant was selfish, but the government made him pay for his sins.

:-)

[cyborg]

pretty much

[cyborg]

reading stories like that, it's hard to have self pity

[Arpege92]

"When Garrett Morgan rescued these people that were trapped using his mask, he had to pass himself off as an indian in order to be allowed to rescue there people."

What a courageous individual!

[Arpege92]

"Good list! Thanks for posting it!"

You bet!

[JustPiper]

I am incorporating this into my kids homeschooling history lessons! Thanks!