The Journey Continues: Teaching inclusive history by celebrating Black inventors

“My Journey Continues” this week is written by guest columnist, Paul Buntyn, Pastor Emeritus of Abundant Life Christian Church in San Marcos, in honor Black History Month. Pastor Paul says, “I trust this information will enhance why I seek teaching an inclusive American History. I am available for discussion on bridging the gap in equality-teaching of history.”

Black History Month was an enlargement of “Negro History Week,” pioneered by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, (PhD, Harvard University) in 1927. On Wikipedia, one learns why he made that effort — He found that the American Historical Association, of which he was a member, had no interest in Black History. Convinced that the role of his own people in American history was being ignored or misrepresented among scholars, he wrote “It is not so much a Negro History Week as it is a History Week. We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in History.” As a scholar, Dr. Woodson devoted his life to historical research to preserve the history of African Americans.

In the 1970s, the Civil Rights Movement brought awareness that the general population of our country knew extraordinarily little about: The role played throughout history by African Americans. Since 1976, every president has proclaimed February as Black History Month.

In this column, I would like to point out just one area of Black contributions to our culture. At the United States Patent Office, there are 50,000 total patents from Black inventors — many inventions that marked the Industrial Revolution and changed American life. A 10-page printout found through a Google search listed Black or Afro-American inventors who hold United States patents on Inventions. Here are 20 chosen to illustrate the resilience and ingenuity of inventive minds who saw a need and filled it: • Peanut Butter, Paints

• Peanut Butter, Paints and Stains, Lotions and Soaps — George Washington Carver

• Potato Chips — George Crum

• Gas Mask — Garrett Morgan

• Home Security System — Mary Van Brittan Brown

• Three-Light Traffic Signal — Garrett Morgan

• Coin Changer — James A. Bauer

• Cotton Planter and Corn Planter — Henry Blair

• Golf Tees — Dr. George Grant

• Pacemaker — Otis Boykin

• Helicopter — Paul E. Williams

• Player Piano — Joseph Dickinson

• Air Conditioning Unit,Two-cycle Gas Engine and Starter, Generator and Refrigeration Controls, and Internal Combustion Engine — Frederick M. Jones

• Space Shuttle Retrieval Arm — WM. Harwell Multi-stage Rocket — Adolph Shammas

• Fire Extinguisher — Tom J. Marshal

• Blood Plasma — Dr. Charles Drew

• Roller Coaster, Telephone Transmitter, Relay Instrument, Electro Mech Brake, Electric Railway System, Galvanic Battery and Auto Air Brake — Granville T. Woods

• Lawn Mower — John A. Burr

• Folding Bed — L.C. Bailey

• Elevator — -Alexander Miles

As written in Matthew 7:7(KJV): “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find…” In honor of the seekers who persist, may they find their labor appreciated.