EXPLORE | THE BIG IDEA
The Lives Behind
the InventionsThese inventors’ creations were
only part of their legacy to their
communities and the world.
Clockwise from top left:
Sarah E. Goode (1850-1905) is
believed to be the first African-
American woman to receive a U.S.
patent, for a collapsible bed that
converted into a rolltop desk.
James Forten (1766-1842) rose
from apprentice to owner of a
Philadelphia sail business, where
he employed both black and white
workers to foster equal rights.
Lonnie Johnson (b. 1949) possesses
more than a hundred patents and
has more than 20 patents pending.
George Washington Carver
(circa 1864-1943) established
the Agricultural Wagon to visit
farms so rural Southerners could
learn about agrarian methods
and best practices.
Lewis Howard Latimer (1848-1928)
was an office boy for a Boston
patent law firm when he taught
himself mechanical drawing.
Promoted to draftsman, he was
hired by Alexander Graham Bell
to draw plans for a new invention;
he finished the telephone draw-
ings in time for Bell to file for a
patent just ahead of a competitor.FACED WITH SUBJUGATION
AND BRUTALITY, AFRICAN
AMERICANS NEEDED
INSPIRATIONAL EXAMPLES,
MODELS OF ACHIEVEMENT
TO FOLLOW.21st century, engineer Lonnie Johnson had worked
for the Air Force on the stealth bomber program and
for NASA on missions to Saturn and Jupiter, and had
obtained dozens of patents—including one for the
Super Soaker water gun. In the decades bracketed
by those two inventors, scientific discoveries by
black Americans have helped make this nation and
its people what we are today.
These trailblazers lived complex lives in complex
times. Yet in our eagerness to honor them, too often
we privilege their inventions over their humanity.
Imagine how much more we might gain from know-
ing them as fully realized individuals, not just as the
sum of their inventions. The emphasis on the latter
took root—with only good intentions—in an early
effort to honor African Americans’ achievements,
about a century ago.THE EARLY DECADES of the 1900s witnessed the
close of the Great War, the greed and opulence of
the Roaring Twenties, and the resurgence of vigilante
violence targeting African Americans. D.W. Griffith’s
1915 film The Birth of a Nation stoked racial fears
in the United States, even as it was screened twice
in President Woodrow Wilson’s White House. The
film fueled segregation and white supremacy efforts
around the country; the Ku Klux Klan terrorized
African-American communities and stirred savagery
in which fires were set and black citizens killed.
Faced with subjugation and brutality, African
Americans needed inspirational examples, models
of achievement to follow. Black leaders wanted white
Americans to see inspiring figures too, to counter the
pernicious stereotypes popularized by the likes of
Griffith. Taking on this mission was historian Carter
G. Woodson, who in 1926 established Negro History
Week, the precursor to today’s Black History Month.
By reclaiming a positive role for African Americans
in U.S. history, Woodson thought, perceptions of
racial inferiority could be challenged. And the effort
would encourage African Americans to believe that
they too could be productive and valuable in a soci-
ety that had yet to cede the space for their success.
In the early iterations of Black History Month,
successful African Americans were intentionally
reduced to their accomplishments—patents, inven-
tions, and contributions easily digested by a wider
public. George Washington Carver is one example
among many (right).18 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC