Category : Inventors
Sarah Elisabeth Goode
01273
Sarah Elisabeth Goode was one of the first African-American women to obtain a patent from the United States government in 1885. She shares the distinction...
Benjamin Montgomery
0697
Benjamin Montgomery was born into slavery in 1819 in Loudon County, Virginia. He was sold to Joseph E. Davis, a Mississippi planter. Davis was the...
Jan Matzeliger
0879
Jan Matzeliger was born in Paramaribo (now Suriname) in 1852. Matzeliger settled in the United States in 1873 and trained as a shoemaker. In 1883,...
Frederick Jones
0770
Frederick Jones was born in Ohio in 1893. After a challenging childhood, he taught himself mechanical and electrical engineering, inventing a range of devices relating...
Benjamin Banneker
0711
From 1792 through 1797 Benjamin Banneker, an African American mathematician and amateur astronomer, calculated ephemerides (tables of the locations of stars and planets) for almanacs...
Granville Woods
0937
Known as “Black Edison,” Granville Woods was an African-American inventor who made key contributions to the development of the telephone, streetcar and more. Granville T....
Thomas L. Jennings
02572
Thomas Jennings (1791–Feb. 12, 1856), a free-born African American and New Yorker who became a leader of the abolitionist movement, made his fortune as the...
Percy Julian
01268
Percy Julian was a remarkable chemist and entrepreneur who made significant contributions to the field of chemistry during his lifetime. He was a pioneer in...
Sarah Boone
03637
Sarah Boone was a 19th century African American dressmaker who was awarded a patent for her improved ironing board. Sarah Boone was an African American...