Black History
Who made the first clock, authored a series of almanacs, and helped design Washington DC.
Benjamin Banneker
Who is the richest person in history with a net worth of $400 Billion?
Mansa Musa
Who was a chef that invented the potato chip in 1853?
George Crum
Who invented the first portable modern day ironing board?
Sarah Boone
Who designed the first mailbox. He created a metal box with four legs, which he called the letter box. It was a predecessor to the mailbox?
Philip Downing
Who was a surgeon that developed a way to process and store blood plasma in “blood banks” that saved people’s lives. His blood bank was adopted by the Red Cross?
Charles Drew
Who invented a shoe machine that would automatically sew the upper shoes and sole together. This created a large industry of shoe companies?
Jan Matzeliger
Who worked for Thomas Edison when he invented the light bulb. Latimer invented the carbon filament that made the light bulb brighter and last longer?
Lewis Latimer
Who was the first woman to hold a pilot license. She was denied entry in flying schools in the United States. She taught herself French and moved to France to earn her pilot license?
Bessie Coleman
Who was the first American woman to become a self-made millionaire?
Madam C.J. Walker
Who is an attorney who became one of the highest ranking women in the NFL when she was named as the Chief Negotiator for the New York Jets Professional Football Team?
Jacqueline Davidson
Who invented a folding cabinet bed that could go against the wall into a cabinet or a desk with compartments for stationary and writing supplies. She became the first African American woman to receive a United States patent.?
Sarah Goode
Who was a chemist that made physostigmine readily available for the treatment of glaucoma (an eye disorder that can lead to blindness). He received over 130 chemical patients, and was the first African American inducted into the National Academy of Sciences?
Percy Julian
Who was awarded a patent for an automatically opening and closing elevator door. He invented a mechanism that triggered the shaft doors to open and close along with the elevator door, making the ride safer?
Alexander Miles
Who was the first African-American to earn a doctorate. He was one of the founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909?
W.E.B. Du Bois
Who developed the idea of the ice cream scooper in 1897. He was a successful Pittsburgh business promoter as well?
Alfred L. Cralle
Who invented the computer language Lingo, which is used in many video games, animations, web design applications, and graphics programs?
John Henry Thompson
Who invented a transmitter that improved hearing over greater distances for the telephone?
Granville Woods
Who was one of the first physicians to perform open-heart surgery in the United States and founded a hospital with an interracial staff?
Daniel Hale Williams
Who invented and patented the first chemical hair straightener, received a patent for the first gas mask, and invented the three-way traffic signal?
Garrett A. Morgan
Who invented the Incineraid system which prevented smoke from burning buildings and kept fog away from airport runways. He also invented the Focus Flow Heat Sink which is a device that kept computer chips cool?
Meredith Gourdine
Who invented an imaging spectrometer which is a device that helps scientists identify what materials are made of. He also created 20 other inventions while working for NASA and IBM.?
George Alcorn
Who was a slave who escaped to freedom in a Confederate supply ship and eventually became a sea captain for the Union Navy. After the war, he became a successful businessman and politician serving in both houses of the South Carolina legislature.?
Robert Smalls
Who was an inventor and engineer who is known for his 57 U.S. patents. He invented a way to lubricate steam engines without shutting them down, which saved a great amount of time and effort in transportation and in industrial production?
Elijah McCoy
Who invented many uses for the peanut, sweet potato, pecans and soybeans. He made rubber, adhesives, dyes, pigments, and other products.?
George Washington Carver