African-American History

I came in on the tale end of a rerun of "The Parkers" recently, and was sorry that I had missed the beginning. Kim and her best friend, Stevie, were sitting in a cold apartment, hair uncombed, wrinkled clothing and barefoot.

When asked by Nikki what was going on, they replied that they were participating in a class project on what the world would be like without African-American inventions. [They were barefoot because Jan E. Madeline invented the shoe lasting machine, uncombed because Walter Sammons invented the hair comb, wrinkled because Sarah Boone invented the ironing board and George T. Samon invented the clothes dryer]

So, that got me to thinking….what would the world be like without African-American inventions? Let me share with you a humorous list that has been circulating along the Internet for a few years now. I have no idea who started it, or who compiled it. But, here it is for your enjoyment.

Well, for starters, you can forget your penthouse view, because without Alexander Mils' elevator, buildings wouldn't be very tall. The roads would be less crowded because Richard Spikes invented the automatic gearshift, Joseph Gambol invented the super charge system for internal combustion engines. Talk about traffic jams! Imagine the number of accidents without Garrett A. Morgan's traffic signal.

Forget a Sunday ride on the Canal Street Car Line or the world-famous San Francisco cable cars – remember, the electric trolley was the creation of Albert R. Robinson.  And imagine how long it would take to clean up after Mardi Gras without Charles Brooks' street sweeper!

Writing would be a challenge without John Love's pencil sharpener, William Purvey's fountain pen, and Lee Barrage's typewriter. How would we print our magazine without W. A. Love's advanced printing press? Even if Americans could write letters, articles and books, they would have to hand-deliver them because William Barry invented the postmarking and canceling machine, William Purveys invented the hand stamp, and Philip Downing invented the letter drop.

But, you couldn't read after dark anyway, because your home would be really dim without Lewis Lattimer's electric lamp, Michael Harvey's lantern. Once on, how would you turn your lamp off without Granville T. Woods' automatic on/off switch? The advantage to the darkness is that you wouldn't be able to see the dirty floors. You see, Thomas W. Steward invented the mop and Lloyd P. Ray invented the dust pan.

Forget the beautifully manicured golf course greens. They'd be brown, overgrown and wilted without Joseph Smith's sprinkler system and John Burr's lawn mower.

Summers in New Orleans would be unbearable without Fredrick Jones' air conditioner, and who could survive winter in Boston without Alice Parker's heating furnace?

Finally, forget all our famous southern dishes. They'd all spoil without the refrigerator, which was invented by John Standard.

I challenge all history teachers to follow the lead of the Parkers and have their students live one day without the inventions of Black Americans.  To help you get started, click the link below for a [partial] listing of African-American inventions.

A-Z Listing of African-American Inventions