So Much History

The African American engineers, scientists, inventors, and doctors have often been overlooked despite their inventions, discoveries, and medical achievements. From the three-light traffic signal, refrigerated trucks, and  automatic elevator doors, to the shape of the modern ironing board, the clothes wringer, laser treatment for cataracts, and home security systems many objects and services that we use every day were invented by Black men and women. Here are the contributions, (just a small sample) of the numerous African American scientists that have contributed to the fields of science, medicine, engineering, biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. 

The African American doctor has broken obstacles and barriers to discover medicine, treatments and advancements that helped to improve and better people’s lives. There are many that have pioneered the healthcare industry. Where would chemotherapy be without the groundbreaking work of doctor Jane C. Wright? Former slave James McCune Smith had his sights on becoming a doctor, although he was denied admission to American colleges because he was Black. Yet, he became the first African American to get his medical degree.

There were some instances where Black inventors could not compete with their White counterparts, because they just did not have access to the capital, or the different systems that are in place to support inventors. One must remember that only free Black citizens could obtain patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but enslaved Black people could not. I bring that up to suggest the case with the invention of the cotton gin. Eli Whitney obtained the patent for the invention. It is widely believed that enslaved Blacks came up with the technology behind the cotton gin. Slaves were doing the work of separating the seeds from the fibers and it was slaves that innovated the device that separated the cotton seeds from the fibers.

But the ideas of Black innovators were often claimed by their enslavers or others, since slaves had no voice. African American inventors and scientists historically faced obstacles such as less access to equal education, and racial violence. We all have heard of the pioneering Black scientists Benjamin Banneker, and George Washington Carver, the famous doctor, Charles R. Drew, and the inventor Madam C.J Walker, but there are numerous more that are not household names, that certainly deserve a place on this list.