Commentary: African American Scientists and Inventors
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
One of the things that really urkes me is that we will never truly know all the inventions by blacks who couldn't protect there work because patents were not given out, and in some cases the inventions were stolen by whites that the black people worked for. This has so many ramifications since innovation leads to entreprenuership and wealth building. However some freed blacks were able to punch some holes in the system.
Thomas Jennings stands in history as a noteworthy figure for being the first Black person to ever receive a patent, but his life should serve as an example of what was, and what could have been, for Black people in the earliest years of the United States.
(con't.)
Thomas Jennings was born in 1891 and worked in a number of jobs before focusing on what would become his chosen career... as a tailor. Jennings' skills were so admired that people near and far came to him to alter or custom-tailor items of clothing for them. Eventually, Jennings reputation grew such that he was able to open his own store on Church street which grew into one of the largest clothing stores in New York City.
Jennings, of course, found that many of his customers were dismayed when their clothing became soiled, and because of the material used, were unable to use conventional means to clean them. Conventional methods would often ruin the fabric, leaving the person to either continue wearing the items in their soiled condition or to simply discard them. While this would have provided a boon to his business through increased sales, Jennings also hated to see the items, which he worked so hard to create, thrown away. He thus set out experimenting with different solutions and cleaning agents, testing them on various fabrics until he found the right combination to effectively treat and clean them. He called his method "dry-scouring" and it is the process that we now refer to as dry-cleaning.
In 1820, Jennings applied for a patent for his dry-scouring process. In light of the times, he was fortunate that he was a free man....Read More
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News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Black and Latino seniors have a tougher time during their retirement years than American seniors as a whole, according to a new University of California, Berkeley, report. AlterNet: It's Much Harder for Black and Latino Workers to Retire, Study Finds
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"Recent household surveys show that retirees of color, especially Blacks and Latinos, rely more heavily on Social Security and have less access to other types of retirement income than their white counterparts," researcher Nari Rhee of UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education said in a statement.
Rhee's report, "Black and Latino Retirement (In)Security," is based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey and U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
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Faubourg Tremé (treh-MAY), one of the oldest African-American communities in the USA, this year is celebrating the 200th anniversary of its annexation to the city with a bevy of concerts, lectures and other events. USA Today: New Orleans neighborhood boasts rich history.
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To local historians and residents, the neighborhood represents an important though oft-overlooked chapter in the country's African-American history.
"When we look at the struggle for equality and freedom for African Americans, we have to look first at Tremé," says Brenda Marie Osbey, a poet and professor of African studies at Louisiana State University and Brown University who has written extensively on Tremé. "That's where it all started."
Black residents lived in the area called Tremé as early as the 1730s, says John Hankins, executive director of the New Orleans African American Museum, located in Tremé
•Free people of color and slaves once prayed freely alongside white worshipers.
•One of the first black newspapers in the country was founded.
•Civil disobedience played out six decades before Rosa Parks ever boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama
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Progress. Boston Globe: 1st black joins NC’s Sons of American Revolution
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A chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution in North Carolina is inducting its first black member, a firefighter who only recently learned his ancestor was freed from slavery after fighting for American independence.
Chaz Moore, 30, is a descendant of Toby Gilmore, the son of a chieftain in coastal West Africa who was kidnapped at 16 and sold into slavery in Massachusetts. He gained his freedom by joining the fight for what would become the United States.
“Growing up, I wasn’t even certain that African-Americans even fought in the Revolutionary War,’’ Moore said. “It’s not something that’s talked about. Then to say, well, yeah, they did, and you’re a direct descendant of one was unbelievable, humbling. I had to redefine patriotism for myself.’’
Moore, who was born in Worcester, Mass., has been a Raleigh firefighter for about five years. On Saturday, he’ll become the first black inducted into the North Carolina chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution in a ceremony at the state Museum of History.
His journey to his roots came through a cousin whose research into the family tree took her to the Old Colony Historical Society in Taunton, Mass. The family history took another turn in 2010 with the discovery that a relative named Maud May Sullivan, born in 1881, had been raised not by her mother, but by a stepmother.
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An ordinary sales slip consigning a young woman to slavery is among the chilling items that will be displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Bloomberg:
Slave Receipt, Chuck Berry Headline $500 Million African American Museum
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The $500 million branch of the Smithsonian in Washington breaks ground tomorrow for an opening in the autumn of 2015 that will add an ambiguous exclamation to the imposing line of culture palaces along the Mall.
A rendering of the museum’s design reveals it to be too polite to capture the tragic and redemptive African-American experience. Yet I can feel an exuberant Africanness struggling to escape the civic blandness imposed by fundraising, watchdog groups and design review that are part of building on America’s most sacred ground.
Athletically sloping columns hoist tiers of bronze metalwork above the National Mall. David Adjaye, the project’s chief designer, says those sprouting bronze metal bands derive from Yoruba motifs. The building captures a sensibility found in textiles and art throughout West Africa, where the chief slave- trading ports were.
London-based Adjaye is working with the insightful architect Philip Freelon, of Durham, North Carolina. (The team includes architecture firms Davis Brody Bond and SmithGroup.)
As you approach the museum, the apparently solid bronze surface is revealed as a delicate screen made from a high-tech composite of concrete and bronze that softens the building’s bulk. Its patterns energetically update the ornamental ironwork screens that veiled porches in 19th-century New Orleans, where many of the artisans were African-American.
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The Front Porch is now open!
Grab a seat and get a plate! If you are new-introduce yourself and join in.