(Page 2) Little Known Black History Facts
82.
Otis Boykin’s most noteworthy invention was an electrical mechanism, created in 1955,
as a regulating unit for the heart pacemaker. Boykin also invented a type of resistor (an
electric circuit element) commonly in use today in radios, computers, and television sets.
81.
Born the son of a French planter and a slave in New Orleans, Norbert Rillieux was
educated in France. Returning to the U.S., he developed an evaporator for refining
sugar, which he patented in 1846. Rillieux's evaporation technique is still used in the
sugar industry and in the manufacture of soap and other products.
80.
Victor Blanco was the Black mayor of San Antonio in 1809, before slavery was
abolished, while Texas was still part of Mexico.
79.
The first Blacks to settle in Alabama were Moors that arrived with the Spanish in 1540—
80 years before the pilgrims.
78.
The son of escaped slaves from Kentucky, Eijah McCoy was born in Canada and
educated in Scotland. Settling in Detroit, Michigan, he invented a type of lubricator for
steam engines (patented 1872) and established his own manufacturing company.
During his lifetime he acquired 57 patents.
77.
Jefferson Franklin Long becomes first Black person to speak in the House of
Representatives as a congressman in 1871.
76.
Matthew Henson, a Black explorer, accompanied Admiral Robert E. Peary on the first
successful expedition to the North Pole in 1909?
75.
Dr. Henry Sampson co-invented and co-patented the gamma electric cell in 1968, which
produced stable high voltage output and current. He also holds three patents concerning
solid rocket motors and one on the direct conversion of nuclear energy into electricity.
74.
During the First World War the U.S. Army would not press African Americans into
combat assignments. The French Army, which had traditionally accepted all men who
volunteered for the fight, eagerly accepted the black troops. Most of these Black troops
received the French Croix de Guerre (Cross of War) for their outstanding bravery in
combat.
73.
Frank Wills, a Black security guard, discovered President Nixon’s cover-up which later
caused his resignation as President of the United States. Despite Wills’ discovery he
struggled to find work for the rest of his life.
72.
Of the estimated 35,000 cowboys that worked the ranches and rode the trails of the
American West frontier, 5,000–9,000 or more were Black. They participated in almost all
of the drives northward, and were assigned to every job except that of trail boss.
71.
Diahann Carroll was the first African American woman to have her own weekly television
series, “Julia.”
70.
Benjamin T. Montgomery, a former slave, bought the plantations of Confederate
President Jefferson Davis at the end of the Civil War, and became one of the biggest
cotton planters in Mississippi.
69.
The U.S. Capitol and the White House were both constructed with the help of free
Blacks and slaves, working alongside white laborers and craftsmen.
67-68.
To offset the stigma of “race color,” the phrase “Black is beautiful” was used to ease
color pressure and dignify the use of the word “Black” to describe African Americans.
66.
Autherine Lucy becomes the first Black student at the University of Alabama in February
1956.
65.
In 1954, with Barbara Jordan as the leader, the all-Black Texas Southern University
debate team stunned and beat the Harvard debate team.
64.
Ernest Green becomes the first Black person to graduate from Central High School in
Little Rock, Arkansas, in May of 1958.
63.
Harriet Tubman usually comes to mind when discussing the Underground Railroad;
however, Levi Coffin was the President of the Underground Railway.
62.
The oldest Black sorority is Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (AKA) Inc. The first Black Greek
sisterhood was founded in 1908 at Howard University by Ethel Hedgeman-Lyle.
61.
Adolph Plessey, a Black man arrested for entering a railroad, took his case to the
Supreme Court, which ended with the “separate but equal” decision of Plessey vs.
Ferguson.
60.
There is a college named after Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.: Malcolm-King
College, located in Harlem.
59.
T.J. Boyd becomes the first to patent an apparatus for detaching horses from carriages
in 1872.
58.
Rex Ingram, a Black actor, bypassed the stereotypes by playing a meaningful role in the
film “The Green Pastures” in 1936.
57.
William Harwell, an African American inventor, created an attachment for the arm of the
shuttle. This device is used to capture satellites.
56.
Alfred L. Cralle invented the ice cream scooper. His invention was patented on February
2, 1897.
55.
Born into a family of free blacks in Maryland, Benjamin Banneker learned the rudiments
of reading, writing, and arithmetic from his grandmother and a Quaker schoolmaster.
Later he taught himself advanced mathematics and astronomy. He is best known for
publishing an almanac based on his astronomical calculations.
54.
Sophia Tucker and Harriet Giles, the founders of Spelman College, used just $100 to
found this Historically Black College.
53.
Estine Cowner became a scaler on a construction crew at the Kaiser shipyards in
Richmond, CA, to construct the Liberty ship George Washington Carver. The demand
for qualified labor in WWII opened up new opportunities for Black women.
52.
Harry C. Hopkins received a patent for enhancing the hearing aid.
51.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Charles Henry Turner received a B.S. (1891) and M.S.
(1892) from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. (1907) from the University of
Chicago. A noted authority on the behavior of insects, he was the first researcher to
prove that insects can hear.
50.
Estevanico was a black slave who participated in an exploration from Mexico into North
America in 1540. During his explorations he discovered the territory that would become
Arizona and New Mexico.
49.
Frederick Jones invented the ticket dispensing machine, the starter generator and the
two-cycle gasoline engine.