Currie, Stephen. African American Inventors.

Currie, Stephen African American Inventors
Lucent Books see Gale/Cengage 2010 104p 33.45
978-1-4205-0121-6 ms/hs African American inventors VG-BN
Lucent Library of Black History (Cengage)


In this thoughtful book about the long list of African American inventors, Currie chronicles their lives and work. He discusses the earliest of these "mechanics and tinkerers," and then moves to the great names: Lewis Latimer, Granville Woods, Garrett Morgan, Madam C.J. Walker, and George Washington Carver as well as those currently active.
The history of African American inventors was fraught with difficulties. During the early days of this country, many of these men were slaves whose owners took credit for their work or, if free men, they had great problems getting their inventions patented and manufactured. In this thoughtful book about the long list of African American inventors, Currie chronicles their lives and work. He discusses the earliest of these ╥mechanics and tinkerers,╙ and then moves to the great names: Lewis Latimer, Granville Woods, Garrett Morgan, Madam C.J. Walker, and George Washington Carver as well as those currently active. As time and the country progressed, more and more African Americans became successful at both creating and profiting from their work. This book discusses these people in relation to the social mores of the times describing the prejudices that they found in their communities and the extraordinary efforts that it took to get their discoveries accepted as the work of African Americans. The author has done an excellent job of describing the difficulties and the determination necessary to achieve their goals. The book is enhanced by primary source quotations and period photographs and ends with chapter notes, a bibliography of books and web sites, and an index. Ogintz, Susan