African American Inventors
There are many unsung African American heroes and heroines in science and technology. Their contributions are often unknown to most people, although their inventions are of great importance. Many of these inventions were fundamental in engineering, agricultural, and medicine. This Reading Set introduces some of these inventors and their inventions to students.
Elijah J. McCoy was born in Canada in 1844. His parents had been slaves in Kentucky, but they escaped. The anti-slavery volunteers of the Underground Railroad helped them get to Canada. After the Civil War was over in 1865, the family returned to the U.S. and lived in Michigan. As…
Granville Tailer Woods was born in 1856. It is thought that his mother may have been Native American and his father was black. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where he went to school until he was ten years old. At that time he went to work to learn how…
Can you write with your left hand and your right hand? Can you write with your teeth and your toes? Bessie Blount Griffin could do all of these things. She used her education and knowledge to help injured soldiers. She was also a handwriting expert and crime fighter. Bessie Blount…
Madam C.J. Walker was born on December 23, 1867 near Delta, Louisiana. Her birth name was Sarah Breedlove. Her parents were slaves on the cotton plantation where she was born. Her parents were emancipated, which means freed, in 1863 after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation…
George Washington Carver was born in Missouri between 1861 and 1864. He was born into slavery. It was not until the end of the Civil War in 1865 that George became free. As he grew up, George loved to learn and read. Black children were not allowed to go to…
Lewis Howard Latimer was born in 1848 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. His parents had escaped slavery in Virginia, and they were determined that their children would be born into freedom. In 1863 when he was just 15, Lewis joined the U.S. Navy to fight in the Civil War. After the war…
Dr. Patricia Bath was the first black woman medical doctor to receive a patent in the United States. She now holds four patents for her inventions, which are related to preventing and restoring sight in patients. Born in 1942, she was raised in the Harlem area of New York City.…