BLACK HISTORY MONTH: THE MAKING OF AMERICA

Blacks have made many significant contributions to America since their arrival. The full story is yet to be told. The contribution of the slaves themselves has been incompletely documented. Many of the contributions that the slaves made have been lost, expropriated, unacknowledged, or stolen and thus they have recieve little or no credit for their contributions. In my attempt to reconstruct the history books, here are some of those over-looked contributions:

“The next time you get a flu shot or take your kids to have their vaccine…”

- During the smallpox epidemic of 1721, Onesimus, a slave of Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister in Boston, informed his master about an inoculation (vaccine) procedure practiced in Africa. The centuries-old practice was practiced throughout Africa and involved the extraction of material from the pustule of an infected person and, using a thorn, scratching it into the skin of the unaffected person. This is the earliest recorded use of the vaccine technique in America.

“The next time your sitting down to dinner and eating rice…”

- Blacks introduced the rice plant to America and taught the English settlers how to cultivate and irrigate the crop. Rice became so important to South Carolina’s economy that it continued to be the colony’s major crop long after the rest of the South had turned to cotton farming in the 19th century.

“The next time you go to pick your clothes up from the cleaners…”

- Thomas L. Jenning was a leading abolitionist, who invented a dry-cleaning process. He was a free black tradesman who operated a dry-cleaning business in New York City, New York. Jennings’ skills were so accepted that people near and far-off came to him to alter or custom-tailor objects of clothing for them. When he was thirty years old, in 1821, he was the first Black granted a patent for a dry cleaning process called “dry scouring.” This enabled him to build up his business. The first money Jennings earned was spent on the legal fees to purchase his family out of slavery, and then to support the abolitionist cause.

“The next time you’re on a cruise ship…”

- Benjamin Bradley develop and build an engine large enough to run the first steam-powered warship. Because he was a slave, Benjamin Bradley was not allowed to get a patent for the engine he developed. He was, however, able to sell the engine and keep the money. He used that money to buy his freedom. He lived the rest of his life as a free person.

“The next time your turn on a light…”

- Lewis Howard Latimer invented an electric lamp and a carbon filament for light bulbs. Latimer’s parents were runaway slaves and subscribed to the American ideal that any poor boy could make his fame and fortune through invention and innovation. Latimer was at skilled at mechanical drawing, he learned while working for a Boston patent attorney. While with the company he advance to a chief draftsman and soon began working on his own inventions.While working at the Boston firm, Latimer met Alexander Graham Bell who hired him to draw the plans for a new invention, the telephone. Latimer’s other patented inventions include such diverse items as the first water closet (i.e., toilet) for railroad cars (Patent No. 147,363 issued February 10, 1874), a forerunner of the air conditioner (Patent No.334,078 issued January 12, 1886), a locking rack for hats, coats, umbrellas, etc. ( Patent No. 557,076 issued March 24, 1896) and a book support (Patent No. 781,890 issued February 7, 1905).