Lucean Arthur Headen was an African American inventor, entrepreneur, and aviator, born on August 26, 1879, in Carthage, North Carolina, to Jerry Headen, a sawmill owner, and an unnamed mother. Headen was born on his grandparents’ farm, where his grandfather, Adam Tyson, worked as a wheelwright. His great-uncle, Joseph Tyson, was a toolmaker. These influences sparked Headen’s early interest in mechanics and business.
As a young man, Headen worked as a porter for the Pullman Company before enrolling at Albion Academy in Franklinton, North Carolina, where he graduated in 1903. He returned to the Pullman Company a year later and worked there for a few more years. In 1909, he became a dining car waiter for the Erie Railroad. While working for the railroad, typically 6 to 8 months each year, Headen spent his months off developing inventions. In 1910, he was credited with inventing an automatic stabilizer to help aircraft remain level in flight after banking. However, he did not apply for a patent for the invention.
In 1911, Headen took flying lessons at the Aeronautical Society in Mineola, New York. The following year, he left his job to join his instructor, Francois Raiche, on a barnstorming tour. During the tour, he displayed a medal inscribed “First Negro Licensed Aviator in the World” but he never took the examination for certification from the Aero Club of America. After the tour, Headen relocated to Chicago, Illinois, but was denied membership in the Aero Club of Illinois because of his race. He continued to perform exhibition flights across the Midwest while living there. In 1914, he ended his barnstorming career and began working part-time as a chauffeur for Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune.
Throughout the rest of his life, Headen developed numerous inventions. During World War I, he devised a system of mirrors intended as a cloaking device to protect ships from U-Boat attacks. The US Navy, however, rejected the concept. He then turned his attention to automobiles. In 1919, he opened the Headen Repair Shop in Chicago. To raise funds, he became involved in bootlegging, which led to a two-month prison sentence. In 1921, he founded the Headen Motor Company, which produced vehicles including a touring car, a sports roadster, and a race car. In 1924, he co-founded the Afro-American Automobile Association, one of the first nationwide Black auto clubs.
From 1925 to 1930, Headen lived in Albany, Georgia, where he incorporated the Headen Motor Car Company. In 1930, he and his associate Henry Petit, a locomotive engineer, were granted Headen’s first patent, for an ignition device. He also developed a fuel-saving vaporizing manifold, for which he later received a patent. In 1931, Headen emigrated to the United Kingdom, where he co-founded and ran Headen Hamilton Engineering Ltd., later known as Headen Keil Engineering Company Ltd. He continued inventing and producing mechanical innovations until his death from a heart attack on September 17, 1957, in Frimley Green, Surrey, England, at the age of 78.
Headen was married twice during his lifetime. He married Tena Drye in 1903; they divorced in 1929. He later married Gladys Hollamby in 1943. Together, they adopted a son, Lucean Jr., in 1948.
