African American inventors

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Blog

A Cool Story About A/C Inventor Garthen Leslie

Working with Quirky and GE, Garthen Leslie invented the Aros smart air conditioner.

Blog

Lost Histories of African American Inventors

In a book written especially for kids, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shares fascinating stories you probably don't know about 16 historical and contemporary African American inventors.

Blog

Meet Lonnie Johnson, the Man Behind the Super Soaker

Get to know engineer Lonnie Johnson, founder and president of Johnson Research and Development Co., who invented the wildly-popular Super Soaker water gun, worked on high-performance Nerf dart guns, and focuses today on inventions related to clean energy.

Blog

An Early Attempt to Build a “National Museum for Colored People”

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture was 100 years in the making, with the first formal calls for such a museum beginning in 1916.

Blog

America Participates in Innovation – 1800s

In this post, I’ll describe how the democratic features of the United States Patent System enticed a broad spectrum of the American population to become inventors in the 19th century.

Places of Invention

Innovating Jazz: The Pittsburgh Sound

Our Affiliate partner in Pittsburgh is investigating how the city's geography, community, and networks shaped their distinctive jazz sound for the "Places of Invention" project.

Places of Invention

My Trip Behind the Scenes of NMAH's Hip-Hop Collection

It’s always exciting going into the vaults of a museum’s collection. Ok, so actually they’re rarely “vaults,” but it’s still exciting to open collection cabinets and discover what objects may lie inside.

Beyond Words

Podcast: Madam C. J. Walker Had a Good Head for Hair Care, Part 2 (of 2)

A'Lelia Bundles explains her quest to document her famous great-great-grandmother's life and legacy.

Beyond Words

Podcast: Madam C. J. Walker Had a Good Head for Hair Care, Part 1 (of 2)

A'Lelia Bundles explains her quest to document her famous great-great-grandmother's life and legacy.

Invention Stories

Hip-Hop and African American Innovation

The creation of heroes has been important for American society. Heroes help define what it means to be an American, produce narratives about our collective historical past, stabilize our cultural surroundings, and represent the best of what we want our culture to be.

Beyond Words

Podcast: Brad Brewer Animates the Inanimate

Brad Brewer of The Brewery Troupe, an African-American puppet company, brings inventor Lewis Latimer's story to life with puppets.

Beyond Words

Podcast: James McLurkin Explores Robot Communities

In an early Lemelson Center program, a young MIT researcher, James McLurkin, explains how his robots work like a group of ants.

Lemelson Center Books

A Hammer in Their Hands

A Hammer in Their Hands: A Documentary History of Technology and the African-American Experience (2005), edited by Carroll W. Pursell, collects primary sources that document the technological achievements of African-Americans.

Invention Stories

Innovative Lives: The Right To Sight: Patricia Bath

Trailblazer Dr. Patricia Bath invented the Laserphaco Probe for the treatment of cataracts and continues to passionately fight for the prevention, treatment, and cure of blindness.

Invention Stories

Innovative Lives: Ikenga—The Revolutionary Gyroplane

Industrial designer David Gittens turned his dreams into reality by designing an improved gyroplane, an aircraft with a rotor powered by wind. The Gyro 2000 Ikenga 530Z is now part of the National Air and Space Museum's collections.

Invention Stories

Innovative Lives: George Carruthers, Lunar Learning

Astrophysicist George Carruthers got his start building a telescope when he was ten years old. Eventually, astronauts used his invention to take ultraviolet pictures of Earth from space for the first time.

Invention Stories

Innovative Lives: Question Everything and Never Give Up: The Story of Inventor James McLurkin

What turns geeks, dorks, and dweebs—fanatics of the attic and garage—into the movers and shakers of the world?

Invention Stories

Innovative Lives: Hal Walker, The Coherent Light of Persistence

Hal Walker's life is a lesson in hard work and conviction. "In my experience," he asserts, "an awareness of how things work helps an individual to master events around him."

African American Scientists, ca. 1975-1990

Inventor Name African American contributors to science and technology

Hal Walker Innovative Lives Presentation, June 1, 1995

Inventor Name Walker, Hal