Honoring African American Inventors

Have you ever wondered who invented the common items that are used in day-to-day life? A lot of what we use today was created or patented by African American inventors. Below is a short list of some African Americans whose inventions/patents are used today. Happy Learning!

Did you know?

Otis Boykin: Created the artificial heart pacemaker control unit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Boykin

Frederick Jones: Invented the refrigerated truck systems which is how our food is transported to stores. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_McKinley_Jones

Alexander Miles: Invented the electric elevator doors that open and close automatically https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Miles

Garrett Morgan: Invented an early version of a gas mask called a smoke hood. He also created the first traffic light that included a third warning position in which we use today! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_Morgan

Alice Parker: She was the first African American to patent the gas furnace for central heating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_H._Parker

George Alcorn JR: invented a method of fabricating an imaging X-ray Spectrometer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Edward_Alcorn_Jr .

I hope you enjoyed reading about these inventors. I encourage you all to do your own research as there is so much that is not acknowledged!

Nicole Forsythe, ERG Committee