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Famous Black Inventors of the 19th- and Early 20th-Centuries (604 hits)

Famous Black Inventors of the 19th- and Early 20th-Centuries
By Mary Bellis

Thomas Jennings, born in 1791, is believed to have been the first African American inventor to receive a patent for an invention. He was 30 years old when he was granted a patent for a dry-cleaning process. Jennings was a free tradesman and operated a dry-cleaning business in New York City. His income went mostly to his North American 19th-century Black activist activities. In 1831, he became assistant secretary for the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Enslaved people were prohibited from receiving patents on their inventions. Although free African American inventors were legally able to receive patents, most did not. Some feared that recognition and most likely the prejudice that would come with it would destroy their livelihoods.

African American Inventors

George Washington Murray was a teacher, farmer and U.S. congressman from South Carolina from 1893 to 1897. From his seat in the House of Representatives, Murray was in a unique position to bring into focus the achievements of a people recently emancipated. Speaking on behalf of proposed legislation for a Cotton States Exhibition to publicize the South’s technological process since the Civil War, Murray urged that a separate space be reserved to display some of the achievements of Southern African Americans. He explained the reasons why they should participate in regional and national expositions, saying:

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