February 28, 2001
F n r iic
is considered to be the first grand­
father clock m ade in the United
States. Later, he and the Q uaker’s
sons w ere selected to lay the plans
for our natio n ’s capitol, W ashing­
ton DC. T hus he was the first A fri­
can A m erican to receive a presiden­
tial appointm ent, but also the first
black civil engineer.
Prior to the Civil W ar,ablackm an
by the nam e Jam es Forten becam e
one o fth e few African A m ericansof
that era to becom e extremely wealthy
from his invention. Forten m ade a
device that helped guide ship sails.
H e used the m oney to expand his
sail factory.
• A nother great black inventor o f
this tim e w as Jan M atzeliger. He
came to the United States from South
A m erica in 1877. N oticing the te­
dious procedure by which soles were
attached to shoes, he invented a
shoe lasting machine. By the tim e he
got his patent in 1883, the equip­
m ent was so successful that shoe
m anufacturers throughout the world
clam ored for his invention.
In 1884, a black m an nam ed
G ranville T. W oods invented an
im proved steam boiler furnace. In
his C incinnati, O hio electrical shop,
W oods built a “ better boiler” to the
am azem ent o f the heating industry.
T hree years later he patented som e­
thing called a “ Synchronous M ulti­
plex R ailw ay T elegraph, an induc­
tion type telegraph m achine. His
invention allow ed railroad train per-
than sixty valuable inventions, in­
cluding an air brake that was sold to
the W estinghouse C orporation and
an incubator.
Military
As with other areas o f A m erican
life, the m ilitary was no exception
A frican Am ericans have been dis­
crim inated in the m ilitary since the
H enry F lip p er was a M ilitary
C om m ander who was the fir s t
b lack to g ra d u a te fr o m the
U.S. M ilitary A ca d em y in
W est P oint in 1877 a n d the
fir s t b lack to b e a ssig n ed to a
co m m a n d p o sitio n in a black
u nit fo llo w in g th e C ivil War.
earliest days o f the anned forces.
Besides w orrying about Indian war­
fare, the co u n try ’s biggest concern
was an insurrection by slaves. How­
ever, during the Revolutionary War,
black soldiers with white Americans
against the British in the battles o f
L exington and Concord, the first
battles o f the war. An A frican Ameri­
can by the nam e o f Salem Poore,
Page 3
fought in the Battle o f Bunker Hill
and was credited with firing the shot
that killed the com m ander o f the
British Force, M ajor John Pitcairn
I le also fought with G eorge W ash­
ington at Valley Forge. C onve­
niently, once the war was over with,
A frican Americans were once again
banned from being allow ed in the
military. Only freeablc-bodicd white
CELEBRATE
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sonnel to com m unicate with w ork­
ers on o ther trains w hile in motion.
In addition, he invented an over­
head trolley electrical system for
s tr e e tc a r s a n d ra ilro a d tra in s.
W oods w as a prolific inventor and
becam e know n as a “ Black Edison.”
He ended up with patents to m ore
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