IKENNA EMEWU
At the 48th Black History Month that spans February 1 and March 1, 2024, a celebration since 1976 it was started by black American scholar and activist Carter G. Woodson, the managers of the body have taken the event higher.
This year, through its various social media platforms and websites, the team of experts in all fields of knowledge who are custodians of Black History in the USA made public a long list of inventions by blacks in history.
During the age of inventions mainly in the 19th Century, the USA and some other countries witnessed an explosion of inventions and advancements in so many areas of life and knowledge.
However, from the chroniclers of history, not much was said, and most times nothing was actually reported about any inputs by the black population of the USA or anywhere.
While the black race still lived as slaves especially in the south of the USA during this age, some of them migrated into seeming liberation towards the northern USA where industrialization had taken roots and employers were more interested in having a workforce notwithstanding their colour, racial segregation, and systemic racism still prevailed through some laws such as the Jim Crow.
The 13th Amendment of the US Constitution with effect from January 31, 1865, was in place, but mainly on paper.
The Blacks, defying the setbacks of slavery, still pulled their weight and played very important roles in reshaping the USA we know today and by extension, the whole of humanity through their numerous inventions.
Apart from the little mentioned by an open-minded white cleric, Cotton Mather that a certain African slave he named Onesimus taught him inoculation or vaccination which stopped the smallpox pandemic in Boston Massachusetts between 1721 and 1723, historians, who were mainly not black, seemed to share a conspiracy of silence about what value blacks added to humanity and a better and more advanced USA.
The Black History team however published this week a list that shows that a black invented stethoscope used in medical practice, the electric bulb, traffic light, refrigeration and air conditioning systems, and many very important others. It is important to note that all these inventions were registered as patents with registration numbers allocated, in the name of the inventors.
These landmark advancements happened within 169 years, which is between 1791 and 1960.
The list included the phone transmitter by Granville Woods in 1884 and the thermostat control by Frederick Jones in 1960.
While Garret Morgan in 1923 invented the traffic light, Matthew Cherry had earlier in 1886 invented the tricycle.
Thomas Carrington in 1876 brought a great breakthrough in the medical field when he invented the stethoscope, a simple tool that medical practice cannot do without all over the world. In 1839, Edmund Berger brought the addition of spark plug which powers engines of all types to the present.
The gas mask and folding bed are very useful in medicine and were all invented by blacks. Leonard Bailey in 1899 brought humanity the folding bed just as Garret Morgan added the gas mask in 1914.
Air conditioner was invented by Frederick Jones in 1949, auto cut-off switch by Granville Woods in 1839 was followed in 1884 by his awesome phone transmitter invention to humanity, just as the blood plasma bag was invented by Charles Drew in 1945. They have all been awesome additions to the advancement of especially medicare.
It was in 1897 that a black, John Love invented the pencil sharpener, whereas Benjamin Banneker had in 1791 made a wonderful addition in the form of an almanac that has been so important in time recording.
A complete list of the 53 inventions is attached and gotten from the group
