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Montage of photos of 8 women inventors

Top row: Marion O'Brien Donovan, Tara Astigarraga, Madison Maxey, Marilyn Hamilton. Bottom row: Michelle Khine, Marjorie Stewart Joyner, Alexis Lewis, Ellen Ochoa

A middle-aged Marjorie Stewart Joyner. The image is cropped from a larger group photo which appears to have been taken at an honorary or celebratory event. Joyner has short, curled hair, is wearing a corsage, and looks straight into the camera. She is not smiling.

Marjorie Stewart Joyner

March 22, 2021 by Joyce Bedi

Throughout American history, women with diverse backgrounds and interests created inventions that change our lives every day.

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“If I've set an example for other people—not just black people, not just poor people, not just women—I want it to be that you shouldn't be limited in what you try to do."

Marjorie Stewart Joyner

Marjorie Stewart Joyner (1896–1994) was the first African American graduate of Chicago’s A. B. Molar Beauty School. She opened her own salon in 1916 and trained further with Madam C. J. Walker, a pioneer of the modern African American hair care and cosmetics industry. Within three years, Joyner became the national supervisor of more than 200 Walker beauty schools. She was also an inventor. Frustrated with the time-consuming method of curling or straightening hair one iron at a time, she patented a permanent waving machine with multiple curling irons, heated by electricity, to style entire sections of hair. She also developed Satin Tress, a preparation that relaxed tight curls.

inventors-joyner-marjorie-uspatent-1693515-750-inline-edit.jpg

First page of drawings from US Patent 1,693,515 received by Marjorie Stewart Joyner on 27 November 1928. Figure 1 shows a floor-standing machine with a suspended hood at the top. Numerous wires and hair clips dangle from the hood. Figure 2 is a detail of the rolling base for the machine.

Marjorie Stewart Joyner received US Patent 1,693,515 for her permanent waving machine in 1928. Courtesy of US Patent and Trademark Office.

artifacts-joyner-marjorie-permanent-rod-straightening-iron-curling-iron-750-inline-edit.jpg

3 hairstyling instruments in a row. A metal permanent rod with a wooden handle is at the left. A metal straightening iron with two hinged tongs and wooden handles is in the center. An all-metal curling iron with 2 narrow tine-like handles and 2 tweezer-shaped tongs is at the right.

Permanent rod, straightening iron, and curling iron used by Marjorie Stewart Joyner, an African American hair stylist, in her beauty salon in Chicago from the 1920s to the 1970s.  Joyner represented Madame C. J. Walker hair care products and founded and taught at Chicago's United Beauty School. © Smithsonian Institution.

artifacts-joyner-marjorie-heating-coil-40-inline-edit.jpg

Metal heating coil with V-shaped end supports. The rectangular center section  contains the heating coil that was attached to a gas pipe. The gas connection fitting extends from the center bottom of the rectangular section.

This metal heating coil was attached to a gas line to heat hair curling and straightening instruments. The coil was used by Marjorie Joyner, an African American hair stylist, in her beauty salon in Chicago from the 1920s to the 1970s.  Joyner represented Madame C. J. Walker hair care products and founded and taught at Chicago's United Beauty School. © Smithsonian Institution.

artifacts-joyner-marjorie-ahb2018q001838-750-inline-edit.jpg

An overhead view of a beauty school classroom. 4 women, 1 man, and 1 little girl are having their hair styled. 2 women are having manicures. 2 women and 1 man are sitting at a desk, reading, and 1 woman appears to be taking notes while watching a manicurist. The room has a high ceiling and very tall windows, and photos and illustrations of hairstyles are hung on the walls.

Foust-O’Bannon vocational school beauty culture class, Louisville, KY, late 1940s. © Smithsonian Institution; AHB2018q001838


Source for quote above: Christi Parsons, “63 Years Later, Inventor Glad She Made Waves,” Chicago Tribune, November 3, 1989, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-11-03-8901270983-story.html.

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  • Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, & Polly Palmer Smith
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  • Woman’s Building, 1893 World’s Fair

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