Jaime wrote to me asking about a certain website that discusses African American inventors in a sort of myth buster style. To paraphrase Jaime, he would like to have some of the inaccuracies about black inventors pointed out if any, because the statements in that website had been cited in a discussion.Jaime, not one of the black inventors lied in their patent applications and said they had invented a totally new invention. The inaccuracies or myths were created by contemporary writers who do not know how to read patents, and contemporary writers who do not realize the value of the history of early African American inventors. Read my article on John Lee Love. Nowhere do I state that John Lee Love invented the very first pencil sharpener, however, the editorial tone is favorable and shows the respect I have for John Lee Love as an inventor. Their headline for example reads "Pencil Sharpener - John Lee Love in 1897? No!" Giving an editorial tone that puts the inventor's achievements in a negative light. These were/are real inventors, who received real patents for real inventions.
Jaime, the website does give accurate examples of prior patents that were more important in the history of a particular invention, other examples I feel revealed a bias against the value of certain patents, and several substantial patents by black inventors were not mentioned. However, the list of African American patent holders contains historical value far beyond winning the "first" race. Who were the first African Americans, male and female, to receive a U.S. patent? What were African American inventors inventing during the 19th and early 20th centuries? The patent list is an invaluable place to start researching history.
holding 2 black plastic portfolio envelopes w/brass clip. gold UNIVAC logo. acquired in 1960′s in college. trying to find value. please help.
I have been giving a lecture for the past 15 years titled “The Best Kept Secret in America – The Genius of the African-American Inventor.” I developed it specifically because so many of the inventors were never given credit and the information is rarely if ever taught in the schools. The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at the Library at Howard University is the repository of Howard Baker’s original research of Negro Inventors prior to 1913. Baker was Second Assistant Patent Examiner at USPTO and documented approximately 800 of the first black patents.