The Gift of Black Inventors

The product of more than twenty-five years of research by James E. Wright, Jr., this exhibition highlights the contributions of Americans of African descent.   

Although persons of African decent have been in the Americas for nearly 400 years, the full extent of their contributions to the development of this country remains undisclosed. However, in 1913, Henry A. Baker, Associate in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, published a work entitled The Colored Inventor.  This was the result of several years of intensive research in which he sought to identify all the African Americans who had been issued patents.  His task was especially difficult as patent applications do not indicate the race of the applicant.  Baker had to resort to sending out letters to patent attorneys, asking if they had assisted any African Americans in securing patents.  Baker’s persistence eventually led to the identification and verification of 800 patents that had been assigned to African Americans within the 50 years following the Emancipation Proclamation.

James E. Wright, Jr., Director, MSI Program, University of Richmond, founded the African American Inventors Institute in 1995 to further increase awareness of the contributions of African Americans and to stimulate interest in science and technology. “We are presenting young people with images of themselves. If I can see one, I can be one,” says Mr. Wright.

The exhibition will display over 125 items and will feature inventors and their inventions as varied in time and function as Sarah Boone and her 1892 patent for the ironing board, Winston Wesley Cavell and his spotter-tracer projectile patented in 1961, and Lonnie Johnson’s ‘Super Soaker’ patented in 1991.

The exhibition will also highlight Virginia native Jo Anderson, who was acknowledged as co-inventor of the reaper by the International Harvester, on the 100th anniversary of the invention.  Other highlighted inventors include George Washington Carver, Dr. Charles Drew, Garrett Morgan and Virginia native Lewis Temple. A special section devoted to African-American astronauts will also be featured.