African American Technological Contributions
Hello there:
I
thought you all would find this "tongue-in-cheek" forward of interest.
It
made me take notice and reminded me of some of the early
historical
contributions of African Americans. Hold your head up a
little higher
today...
A very humorous and revealing story is told
about a group of
white people who were fed up with African Americans, so
they joined
together and wished themselves away. They passed through a deep
dark tunnel
and emerged in
sort of a twilight zone where there is an
America without black people.
At first these white people breathe a sigh
of relief. At last, they said,
No more crime, drugs, violence and
welfare. All of the blacks have gone!
Then suddenly, reality set in. The
"NEW AMERICA" is not America at all-only
a barren land.
1. There
are very few crops that have flourished because the nation was
built on a
slave-supported system.
2. There are no cities with tall skyscrapers
because Alexander Mils, a black
man, invented the elevator, and without it
one finds great difficulty
reaching higher floors.
3. There are
few if any cars because Richard Spikes, a black man, invented
the automatic
gear shift, Joseph Gambol, also black, invented the Super
Charge System for
Internal Combustion Engines, and Garrett A. Morgan,
a
black man, invented
the traffic signals.
4. Furthermore, one could not use the rapid
transit system because it's
procurer was the electric trolley, which was
invented by another
black
man, Albert R. Robinson.
5. Even if
there were streets on which cars and a rapid transit
system
could
operate, they were cluttered with paper because an African American,
Charles
Brooks, invented the street sweeper.
6. There were few if any newspapers,
magazines and books because John Love
invented the pencil sharpener, William
Purveys invented the fountain pen,
Lee Barrage invented the Type Writing
Machine and W. A. Love invented
the Advanced Printing Press. They were
all, you guessed it, Black.
7. Even if Americans could write their
letters, articles and books,
they would not have been transported by mail
because
William Barry invented
the Postmarking and Canceling Machine,
William Purveys invented the Hand
Stamp and Philip Downing invented the
Letter Drop.
8. The lawns were brown and wilted because Joseph Smith
invented the
Lawn Sprinkler and John Burr the Lawn Mower.
9.
When they entered their homes, they found them to be poorly
ventilated
and poorly heated. You see, Frederick Jones invented the Air
Conditioner and
Alice Parker the Heating Furnace. Their homes were also dim.
But
of
course, Lewis Later invented the Electric Lamp, Michael
Harvey
invented
the lantern and Granville T. Woods invented the Automatic
Cut off Switch.
Their homes were also filthy because
Thomas W.
Steward
invented the Mop
& Lloyd P. Ray the Dust Pan.
10.
Their children met them at the door-barefooted, shabby, motley and
unkempt.
But what could one expect? Jan E. Matzelinger invented the
Shoe Lasting
Machine, Walter Sammons invented the Comb, Sarah
Boone
invented
the Ironing Board and George T. Samon invented the
Clothes Dryer.
11. Finally, they were resigned to at least have dinner
amidst all of
this turmoil. But here again, the food had spoiled because
another Black
Man, John Standard invented the refrigerator.
Now,
isn't that something? What would this Country be like without the
contributions of Blacks, as African-Americans?
Martin Luther King, Jr.,
"by the time we leave for work, Americans have depended on
the
inventions from the minds of Blacks."
