What's for Real?

Jaime wanted to know if the claims made about African American inventions were a scam. Jamie, the inventors were issued real patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. You can view copies in our patent gallery. The inventors made factual statements to the USPTO and their inventions were deemed patentable. The problem is that many people do not understand patents. For every invention - there are hundreds even thousands of patents issued, not just one. The majority of inventions are "improvements" to prior inventions.

What we know about early black inventors comes mostly from the work of Henry Baker. He was an assistant patent examiner at the U.S. Patent Office who was dedicated to uncovering and publicizing the contributions of Black inventors. There is a scarcity of material about black inventors from the past. An accurate list of patent holders does have a place in the study of African American history. In my opinion there has been too much obsession made over being first or not being first. Photo left: George Washington Carver