Samuel Scottron was a inventor of the late 1800s, best known for his invention of the curtain rod. It is unclear if Scottron was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or New England in the years 1841 or 1843. What is clear is that the Scottron family … Read MoreSamuel Raymond Scottron (ca. 1843-1905)
An experimental psychologist, Gloria Twine Chisum is primarily known for developing protective eyewear for pilots in extreme conditions. Chisum was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1930. She grew up in Muskogee but then attended Howard University where she earned an undergraduate degree in psychology in 1951 and completed an MS in psychology … Read MoreGloria Twine Chisum (1930- )
Born near Circleville, Ohio to Michael Miles and Mary Pompy, Alexander Miles is the 19th Century African-American inventor known best for patenting his design for improving the automatically opening and closing elevator doors. The patent was issued on October 11, 1887 (U.S. Patent 371,207). Miles moved to Winona, Minnesota in 1870 … Read MoreAlexander Miles (1838-1918)
During the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, Philip Bell Downing successfully filed at least five patents with the United States Patent Office. Among his most significant inventions were a street letter box (U.S. Patent numbers 462,092 and 462,093) and a mechanical device for operating street … Read MorePhilip B. Downing (1857-1934)
In 1978 David Wabeladio Payi created a writing system he dubbed “Mandombe.” He ascertained that the script was revealed to him in a dream where he saw two figures formed by mortar joints on his wall. The mirror figures he saw on the joints looked … Read MoreDavid Wabeladio Payi (1957-2013)
Marie Van Brittan Brown was the inventor of the first home security system. She is also credited with the invention of the first closed circuit television. Brown was born in Queens, New York, on October 22, 1922, and resided there until her death on February … Read MoreMarie Van Brittan Brown (1922-1999)
The physicist and inventor George Carruthers, known for inventing the ultraviolet camera and spectrograph, was born on October 1, 1939 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Carruthers is the oldest of four siblings. Carruthers’s father, George Carruthers, Sr., died when Carruthers was only 12 years old. However, … Read MoreGeorge Carruthers (1939- )
Janet Emerson Bashen is the founder and CEO of the Bashen Corporation, a private consulting group that investigates Equal Employment Opportunity complaints under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. She is the first African American woman in the United States to hold a … Read MoreJanet Emerson Bashen (1957- )
Born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1934, Henry Thomas Sampson, Jr. was a prolific inventor and pioneer in the field of nuclear engineering. Sampson was also a pioneer in the technology that is used in modern cell phones, but contrary to a widely held belief, he … Read MoreHenry Thomas Sampson (1934-2015)
William Chester Ruth was an African American inventor, business owner, and community leader in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Ruth was the son of Samuel and Maria Louisa Pinn-Ruth. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment liberated Samuel, a former slave, when it occupied Savannah, Georgia in 1865 while … Read MoreWilliam Chester Ruth (1882-1971)
