This document highlights the contributions and inventions of many influential Black Americans throughout history. It discusses inventors and innovators such as Thomas Fortune who patented a dry cleaning process in the 1820s, Edward Bouchet who was the first Black person to earn a PhD from an American university, and Lyda Newman who patented an improved hair brush. It also profiles scientists, engineers, and medical innovators such as Lewis Latimer, Lloyd Hall, Percy Julian, and Mark Dean who collectively hold over 300 patents. The document notes that less than 1% of mathematicians and only a small number of National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees are Black. It concludes by providing contact information for an organization dedicated to filling gaps in portrayals of

1. Black Inventors and
Innovators
RPI Black Family Technology Day
February 4, 2012

2. Thomas Fortune, entrepreneur
1791-1859
• Tailor to store owner.
• 1820 patent for “dry
scouring” process.
• Used profits for
abolition purposes.
• 1831, assistant
secretary for the First
Annual Convention of
the People of Color in
Philadelphia. Representative image

3. Edward Alexander Bouchet
1852-1918
• 1874 first person of African descent to graduate from
Yale.
• 1876 Bouchet successfully completed his dissertation
on geometrical optics, becoming the first Black person
to earn a Ph.D. from an American university.
• Taught at the Institute for Colored Youth
for 26 years then various educational
institutions and other endeavors.

5. Lyda Newman
• 1898 patent for
improved hair brush.
• First brush with
synthetic bristles.
• Designed to promote
ventilation and
provide storage for
excess hair or
impurities.

6. Ellen Eglin, no patent
1849 - ?
• Worked as a domestic laborer and invented the
clothes wringer.
• Sold the rights to patent and distribute to a white
man for $18, because,
“You know I am black and if it was known
that a Negro woman patented the invention
white ladies would not buy the wringer, I
was afraid to be known because of my
color, in having it introduced into the
market, that is the only reason.”

7. Andrew Beard
• Born enslaved
• 1897 patent for Jenny
Coupler to join two
rail cars.
• Sold rights to railroad
company for $50,000.
• Also patented a
steam driven rotary
engine, and a double
plow.

8. Lewis Latimer, 1848 -1928
• 1874 co patented improved
toilet system for railroad cars.
• 1876 employed by Alexander
Bell to draft necessary
drawings for Bell’s patent
application.
• 1881 patent for the "Process of
Manufacturing Carbons", an
improved method for the
production of carbon filaments
for the light bulb

9. Dr. Lloyd August Hall
1894-1971
• Chief chemist, director of
research, and technical
director of Griffith
Laboratories, Inc.
• 1930’s Introduced “flash dried
salt crystals”
• Over 54 patents in food
preparation and preservation.
• In 1939, he helped found the
Institute of Food
Technologists, the first
professional organization
serving chemists involved in
food processing and
preservation.

10. Elmer Samuel Imes, physicist
1883-1941
• Published work that
opened study of
molecular structure
through the use of
infra-red spectroscopy.
• Four patents for his work.
• 1929 started Fisk's A.B.
program in Physics.
• Married to Harlem
Renaissance poet Nella
Larsen.

11. Vivien Thomas,
1910-1985
• Carpenter to
laboratory assistant,
supervisor, instructor
to honorary Doctor of
Laws
• Developed surgical
instruments and
improvements in
surgical procedures at
Johns Hopkins.

12. Marjorie Joyner, beauty salon
owner 1912 - 1994
• 1916 graduated
cosmetology school
and opened a beauty
salon.
• 1919 hired as National
Supervisor of Madam
C.J. Walker Beauty
Colleges
• 1928 patented
Permanent Waving
Machine to curl hair
with multiple heated
rods.

13. Alice Parker
•1919 new and improved heating furnace

14. Herbert Smitherman, Sr. Ph.D
• Physical Organic chemist
• First Black person with a
Ph.D hired by Proctor and
Gamble.
• Patents include Crest
toothpaste, Folgers coffee,
Bounce, Safeguard and
Crush soda.
• After retirement he taught at
Wilberforce then started the
Western Hills Design
Technology School to help
Black students perform
better in math and science.

15. Percy L. Julian, chemist
(1899 -1975)
• Synthesized physostigmine
which treats glaucoma.
• Used soybean protein to
create a number of
products.
• 1954 used Mexican yams
to synthesize cortisone.
• Had over 130 patents.
• 1961 sale of Julian
Laboratories made him one
of first Black millionaires.

16. Patricia Bath, Ophthalmologist
• Selected to
participate in cancer
research as a
teenager.
• First Black person to
complete residency in
ophthalmology.
• Patented “Laserphaco
probe” to remove
cataracts.

17. Less than 1% of all mathematicians
are Black. 25% of these are women.

18. Christine Vonicle Mann Darden,
mechanical engineer
• Former math teacher.
• 1967 Joined National Aeronautics Space
Administration (NASA) Langley Research
Center.
• Works on wing design supersonic flow,
flap designs and sonic boom predictions.
• 3 patents filed between 2002 and 2005.

19. Phillip Emeagwali
• International Gordon
Bell Prize in computer
science.
• Worked on
supercomputers.

20. Lonnie Johnson, engineer
• Created the Super soaker water gun

21. National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees
Year Inducted Name of Inventor No. of Patents
1990 Dr. George Washington Carver 3
1990 Dr. Charles R. Drew 3
1990 Dr. Percy Lavon Julian 105
1997 Mark Edward Dean Over 100
1999 James E. West 40
2001 Elijah McCoy 47
2003 Dr. George Caruthers 1
2004 Lloyd Augustus Hall 54
2005 Garrett Augustus Morgan 3
2006 Andrew J. Beard 11
2006 Lewis H. Latimer 10
2006 Jan E. Matzelinger 6
2007 Granville T. Woods Over 40
2007 Emmett W. Chappelle 15
2007 Frederick McKinley Jones Over 30
2007 Alexander Miles 3

22. Note there have been no women of
African descent inducted into the
inventor’s hall of fame and many
pioneer men have yet to be
recognized for their contributions.

23. Valerie Thomas
• Began career at NASA as
data analyst.
• Illusion transmitter
patented in 1980.
• Designed programs to
research Halley's comet
and ozone holes.
• She received numerous
awards for her service,
including the GSFC
Award of Merit and the
NASA Equal Opportunity
Medal.

24. Mark Edward Dean, electrical
engineer
• Led team to develop
the first gigahertz chip
capable of a billion
calculations per
second.
• Over 200 domestic
and international
patents.

25. Jelani Aliyu, designer of the 2007
hybrid electric car Chevrolet Volt

26. Harry Sampson
• First African American to earn a Ph.D.in
Nuclear Engineering in the US.
• Employed as a research chemical
engineer in the area of high energy solid
propellants and case bonding materials for
solid rocket motors for US Navy.
• Co-inventor of gamma electric cell.

27. Dr. Shirley Jackson, second woman of African descent in the
US to earn a Ph.D. in physics and current President of
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 2009, President Obama
appointed Dr. Jackson to serve on the President’s Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology.

28. Filling in the Gaps in American History (FIGAH),
Inc.
For more information on people of African descent who do not
usually appear in text books, contact info@figah.us , visit us on
Facebook or call 518.210.6028