Did you know there are over hundreds of inventions by Black people that all humans use, experience, eat, drink, or enjoy around the world today? George Washington Carver with three hundred plus inventions and others, the numbers are so much more impressive.
Did you know there are over hundreds of inventions by Black people that all humans use, experience, eat, drink, or enjoy around the world today? George Washington Carver with three hundred plus inventions and others, the numbers are so much more impressive.
According to the Brookings Institute, of the 50,000 total patents, Black people accounted for more inventions during this period than immigrants from every country except England and Germany. From 1870 to 1940, Black people living in the North were eight times more likely to be awarded a patent than Black people living in the South. In their database, 87% of inventions were traced to people born in the United States, and 2.7% of the U.S. total were invented by Black Americans.
To highlight some of the major inventions, here is a list of 40: 1. Folding Bed Cabinet (1885) Sarah Goode 2. The Potato Chip — George Crum 3. Gas Mask and the Traffic Light — Garrett Morgan 4. Protective Mailbox — Phillip B. Downing 5. Blood Bank — Dr. Charles Drew 6. Home Security System 7. Refrigerated Trucks — Frederick McKinley Jones 8. Automatic Elevator Doors — Alexander Miles 9. Color IBM PC Monitor & the Gigahertz Chip — Dr. James West 10. Supersoaker — Lonnie Johnson 11. Tissue Holder — Mary Kenner 12. Automatic Gear Shift — Richard Spikes 13. Clothes Dryer — George T. Sampson 14. Dustpan — Lloyd P. Ray 15. Folding Chair — John Purdy 16. Golf Tees — Dr. George Gant 17. Ice Cream Scooper — Alfred L. Cralle 18. Lawnmower — John Albert Burr 19. Lawn Sprinkler — Joseph A. Smith 20. Modern Toilet — Thomas Elkins 21. The Mop — Thomas W. Stewart 22. Reversible Baby Stroller — William Richardson 23. Street Sweepers — C.B. Brooks 24. Horseshoe — Oscar E. Brown 25. Horse Bridle Bit — L.F. Brown 26. Train Alarm — R.A. Butler 27. Disposable Syringe — Phil Brooks 28. Torpedo Discharger — H. Bradberry 29. Printing Press — W.A. Lavalette 30. Pressure Cooker — Maurice W. Lee 31. Window Cleaner — A.L. Lewis 32. Portable Pencil Sharpener — John L. Love 33. Fire Extinguisher — Tom J. Marshal 34. Hairbrush — Lyda Newman 35. Heating Furnace — Alice H. Parker 36. Blimp — J.F. Pickering 37. Hand Stamp — W.B. Purvis 38. Fountain Pen — W.B. Purvis 39. Cellular Phone — Henry Sampson 40. Guitar — Robert Flemming Jr.
We were so enormously proud when we listed these inventors, we could not stop.
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