Norbert Rillieux – Inventor
1806-1894 – Nobert Rillieux is famous for revolutionising the sugar industry.
Norbert Rillieux was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 17 March 1806. His parents were Vincent Rillieux, a white …
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Thomas Jennings – Inventor
Thomas Jennings (1791-1859)
Thomas Jennings was born free in New York City in 1791. In his early 20s, he became a tailor but then opened a dry-cleaning business in New York. Thomas went on to …
George Crum
The potato chip (aka crisps) was invented in 1853 by George Crum. The son of an African-American father and a Native American mother, Crum was a chef at the Moon Lake Lodge resort in …
Granville T Woods “The Black Edison”
Many professionals in the electrical industry knew Granville T Woods as the “Black Edison”. Woods was considered by many to be the greatest electrician in the world. The most well-known of …
How did Black History Month start?
What we now call Black History Month was originated in the US in 1926 by Carter Godwin Woodson as Negro History Week. The month of February was selected in deference to Frederick Douglass and Abraham …
Elijah McCoy
Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontario, Canada, on 2 May 1844. His parents were George and Emillia McCoy, former slaves from Kentucky who escaped through the Underground Railroad. George joined …
Henry Boyd – Black inventor
Henry Boyd was a skilled carpenter, born into slavery in Kentucky on 12 April 1802. At a young age, his master apprenticed Henry out to a cabinetmaker. Henry proved to have an impressive talent for …
The Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were an umbrella term for state and local laws which legalised racial segregation. African Americans were to be marginalised by these laws – which existed for about 100 years, …
Lewis Latimer – Inventor
Lewis Latimer is regarded as one of the ten most significant Black inventors of all time, not just for his many inventions but also for his most famous discovery.
Latimer was born on 4 September …
Alice Marie Coachman – First black woman to win an Olympic gold medal
Alice Marie Coachman (born 9 November 1923 in Albany, Georgia) is an American former athlete. She specialised in the high jump and became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal with …
Garret Morgan – Inventor of the traffic light and gas mask
Garrett Morgan possessed a rare gift of creativity that allowed him to produce outstanding inventions which have a tremendous impact on society.
Garrett Morgan was born on 4 March in Paris, …
Louise Bennet: Miss Lou dies at 86
On Wednesday, Jamaican poet and folklorist Louise Simone Bennett-Coverly, who became the voice of the island’s culture at home and abroad, died in Toronto. She was 86 years old.
Jamaica …