African american biography inventor

13 african american inventors who changed the world

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List of African-American inventors and scientists

Name Years Occupations Inventions / accomplishments References Adkins, Rodney– Electrical engineer First African-American to serve as a senior vice president at IBM, helped develop IBM ThinkPad Alcorn, George Edward Jr.– Physicist, inventor Invented a method of fabricating an imaging X-ray spectrometer^[8]^[9]Alexander, Archie– Civil engineer Responsible for the construction of many roads and bridges, including the Whitehurst Freeway, the Tidal Basin Bridge, and an extension to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Ammons, VirgieDecember 29, – July 12, Inventor Filed the fireplace throat damper patent on August 6, ^[10]Amos, Harold– MicrobiologistFirst African-American department chair at Harvard Medical School^[11]Andrews, James J.– Mathematician Put forth the Andrews–Curtis conjecture in group theory with Morton L. Curtis,

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Celebrating the Black inventors who changed our lives

Back in , the famed historian Carr commented that History with a capital ‘H’ is written by a privileged class who have the time and social position to decide what of all the countless events that have taken place are sufficiently important to record. Since History has been written to date by wealthy vit men, our history has ended up being a tale of what rich white men did. Even the sexual diversity of these white men &#; such as that Leonardo Da Vinci was openly gay &#; has been quietly left out of the official record as taught. This has left our understanding of how the modern world came to be distorted and incomplete. It also ignores the great importance of women and all the people of the global majority.

Innovating for liberation

Black inventors have not just contributed to society, many have been instrumental in supporting their own collective liberation. The first African American U.S. patent

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11 Famous Black Inventors Who Changed Your Life

Thomas L. Jennings

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The first African American U.S. patent recipient, Thomas L. Jennings was working as a tailor and businessman in New York City when he invented a process for dry-cleaning delicate clothing known as “dry-scouring.” Jennings applied for a patent in and received his history-making approval the following year. With the money he earned from his invention, the formerly enslaved person donated to abolitionist causes and even reportedly freed his still-enslaved family members.

Sarah Boone

In , Sarah Boone patented a design improvement to Elijah McCoy’s ironing board. The North Carolina native wrote in her application that the purpose of her invention was “to produce a cheap, simple, convenient, and highly effective device, particularly adapted to be used in ironing the sleeves and bodies of ladies’ garments.”