Black History Month 2002

Exploding the Lie about Black Genius

From our correspondent Keith Holmes

Contrary to the commonly heard lie, in polite as well as racist circles, that "Blacks never produced anything", inventions by Black inventors could number over 100,000.

Inventions by Black people are global in their importance and impact. They cover all areas of modern living from agriculture to zoology. What we are talking about here is an accumulation of inventiveness dating from 1620 to the present, something that few ethnic groups can match, and given the challenges that Black people face in the modern world today, this is something to not only highlight but to celebrate.

There was a time when the names of Black inventors were not known or hidden from the mainstream. And to some this was an indication that black people were not inventors at all. Today is a new day for black inventors of both past and present, putting at the hands of any curious mind their mark on civilized living.

Invention is the ability to see a higher and more efficient way of functioning. This takes passion, craftsmanship, courage, vision and wisdom, all of the qualities that a highly developed individual and race has - and more than one hundred thousand blacks were and are at that level of functioning.

Mark E. Dean

Black scientists have triumphed over adversity as evidenced by the awards now showered upon them. In 1990, a major breakthrough in the recognition of Black inventors occurred. Dr. George Washington Carver (chemurgist and Tuskegee Institute) and Dr. Percy Lavon Julian (soy products and Griffith Labs, Julian Labs) were the first black inventors nominated and inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Since then two more Black inventors Mark E. Dean (computers and IBM) and James E. West (microphones and AT&T Bell Labs and Lucent Technologies) were recently inducted in 1997 and 1999 respectively.

Find out more for yourself. And you can use a Black inventor's name or patent number to search the following web sites:

Great Lakes Patent and Trademark Center African American Inventors Database www.detroit.lib.mi.us/glptc/aaid/index.htm

African American Inventors Series website
www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~rlandrum

African American Inventors website
www.inventorsmuseum.com/africanam.htm

About Black inventors website
www.inventors.about.com/cs/blackinventors

For official patent sites click on:

African Intellectual Property Organization
www.oapi.cm

European Intellectual Patent Office
http://gb.espacenet.com

United States Patent and Trademark Office
www.uspto.gov

World Intellectual Property Office
www.wipo.int.

Key books on the subject of Black Inventors include:

African America First in Science &Technology, Gale, 1999.

African America First in Science & Technology, Gale, 1999.

Black Engineers in the United States, James Ho, 1974.

Black Inventors of America, Burt Mckinley, 1969.

Black Pioneer of Science and Invention, Louis Haber, 1970.

Blacks in Science and Medicine, Vivian Ovelton Sammons, 1990.

Creativity and Inventions, The genius of Afro-Americans and Women in the United States and their patents, Patricia Carter Ives, 1987.

Hidden Contributors: Black Scientists and Inventors in America, Aaron E. Klein, 1971.

Outward Dreams: Black Inventors and Their Inventions, James S. Haskins,1991.

We welcome your comments to our Message Board, accessed via our front page.

For further information and assistance on inventors and inventions from your state or country, contact: Keith Holmes Email: kcholmes@i-2000.com

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