Celebrating Black History Month with RAFT’s Makerspace in a Box

In honor of Black History Month, each week RAFT would like to pay tribute to African-American inventors, scientists, and engineers.

The list of African Americans who have invented a multitude of items in the course of their lives is endless! These inventions range from practical everyday devices to applications in diverse fields, including physics, biology, and mathematics. Just a few of these inventors and inventions include:

INVENTOR	INVENTION
Leonard C. Bailey	Folding bed
Janet Bashen	First African-American woman to receive a patent for software
Earl Bell	Chair with sliding skin and the quantitative display apparatus
Miriam Benjamin	Second African-American woman to obtain a patent for the “Gong and Signal Chair” for hotels
Henry Blair	Seed/cotton planter; second African-American inventor to receive a patent
Sarah Boone	Ironing board allowing sleeves to be ironed more easily
Otis Boykin	Artificial heart pacemaker control unit
Charles Brooks	Street sweeper truck
Phil Brooks	Disposable syringe
Thomas Cannon	Lead engineer for Tactical Optical Fiber Connector
Lewis Latimer	Draftsman for Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison; said to have invented the water closet

Try your hand at identifying a need or problem in your daily life and creating a solution (invention) with RAFT’s

Makerspace in a Box.

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