Ep 46: Enslaved - INVENTORS

Seems ironic - but makes sense | Enslaved investors... A discovery organized by B Daht, Of course African American Inventors were AT TIMES ENSLAVED when they invented items.... But it seems understated. CELEBRATING or WIDENING THE REALITY OF INVENTORS THIS EPISODE explains some of the obstacles overcome by early inventors and the world around their inventions.

B Daht explains more about this reality of historical facts.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
Black folk invented hell of stuff. Just because their names
ain't listed first or on the patents don't mean they
weren't involved in the creation of these things. Enslaved Africans
are the ones that did the work. They were the
ones that knew how to make things run efficiently, like
these items. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't get. I
didn't know. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't get I

(00:23):
didn't know. Maybe you didn't get. I didn't know. I
didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. Now, season one,
we talked about Uncle Nearest Nathan Nearest Green. He was
the first black master distiller and he's got his own
Tennessee whiskey, the Uncle Nearest Whiskey. We talked about the
black woman Gladys May West, who invented Global Positioning Systems

(00:43):
in season one. Yes, a black woman invented GPS. Or
what about Edmund albeis a twelve year old enslaved little
black boy that invented the technique that made the vanilla
industry possible. He basically revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla. So
if you like vanilla ice, cream. Thank you. Edmund albeists
now CRUs McCormick, he's considered the father of agriculture, takes

(01:04):
all the credit for inventing the mechanical reaper. That was
a machine that they used to cut up wheat that
pretty much became the foundation for the industrial revolution, But
little is mentioned about Joe Anderson, the black man who
worked very closely with McCormick on the machine. The real
brains behind the invention see the Patent Act of seventeen
ninety three and eighteen thirty six. Are any enslaved Africans

(01:26):
for getting any patents because they were property, they weren't
considered citizens. Benjamin Montgomery, he designed a steamboat propeller for
the shallow waters they hit at different angles. That invention
single handily facilitated the delivery of food and critical items.
Another whose application was rejected because he was enslaved, to

(01:46):
which his owners tried to take credit and patent themselves.
Ned didn't even listed with a last name. He was
an enslaved African who invented an effective innovative cotton scraper.
So his slave master was Oscar Stewart attempted to haddening
it himself because you know, ned was ineligible. According to
the U. S. Attorney General, Henry Boyd, he invented what
became known as the Boyd bedstead. You know, the frame

(02:08):
around your bed with the rails and the foot and
head rest, that's the Boyd bedstead. And due to the
racist realities of the time, Henry knew he wasn't gonna
get no patent for his invention, so he partnered with
a white craftsman, allowing them to apply and receive a patent.
And I'm already here. I know. It's so many more
inventions by black enslaved people. These are just a couple

(02:29):
that I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,