AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY Profile picture
Feb 11, 2022 20 tweets 9 min read Read on X
Inventions by Black Inventors. #BlackHistoryMonth

A THREAD!
12 year old enslaved boy, Edmond Albius, invented the technique that made the vanilla industry possible. He revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla.

He made it possible for us to enjoy treats like Vanilla Ice Cream!
George Crum invented the Potato chips. Thanks to him, our mindless television watching became a bit more delicious!
Lonnie Johnson, NASA engineer, invented the Super Soaker. He made your childhood hot summers fun!
George Washington Carver overcame slavery to achieve fame as a scientist, botanist, and educator. He invented over 300 uses for peanuts and he’s responsible for much more. He's credited for the idea of crop rotation to improve soil health.
Unlike other agricultural researchers of his time, Dr. Carver saw the need to devise practical farming methods. He wanted to coax farmers away from cotton to soil-enhancing, protein-rich crops as soybeans and peanuts.
Dr. Patricia Era Bath, 1981. Inventor of the Laserphaco Probe, used worldwide in eye surgery to remove cataracts. Bath founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.

She restored sight to millions of people suffering from cataracts.
For all those who love baking, but want the task to be made easy as possible. Anna M. Mangin foresaw your needs. She invented the pastry fork in 1891!
Mary Beatrice Kenner changed the world of feminine care with the invention of the sanitary belt, the forerunner of sanitary pads.

Her creation was considered to be the first form of modern menstruation protection.
Joseph H. Smith invented the Lawn sprinkler.

Through his invention he saved ya'll many hours dragging long hoses across enormous lawns.
Garrett T Morgan invented the Gas Mask. His invention saved countless lives.

He also invented the improved traffic lights, sewing machine and, hair-straightening product.
Richard Spikes patented the improved automatic gear shift and the automatic brake system and the turn signal for you all to Drive Safely!
He also patented a beer-tapper thats used on keg barrels.
Thomas Edison lightbulb was too hot and had a short lifespan and wasn’t efficient for homes and businesses. Lewis Latimer invented the brighter and efficient lightbulb.

Factually, a black man took the world out of darkness. Your perception of reality is white deception.
John Albert Burr invented the modified lawnmower as we know today. Though he did not invent the very first lawnmower.

In 1899, he patented an improved rotary blade lawn mower. He designed a lawn mower with traction wheels and a rotary blade that was designed to not easily get…
…plugged up from lawn clippings. John Albert Burr also improved the design of lawn mowers by making it possible to mow closer to building and wall edges. He was issued U.S. patent 624,749.
The first home security system and CCTV was invented by a black nurse, Marie Van Brittan Brown.

Thanks to her, we can all feel safer in our homes.
Thomas Jennings becomes the first black to receive a patent for his invention. He invented a dry-cleaning process called 'dry scouring', a forerunner of today’s dry-cleaning process.
Otis Frank Boykin invented many devices. One being the control unit for the heart pacemaker. Responsible for saving millions of lives daily. #BlackHistoryMonth
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More from @AfricanArchives

Jan 10
Did you know Sesame Street was originally created for black and brown inner city kids?

A THREAD Image
Children usually spend a lot of time watching a lot tv and technically it was sort of a babysitter. It was even worse for inner city children whose parents spent endless hours at work, thus their kids were usually exposed to long hours of mindless programs.
Lloyd Morrisett, regarded as the father of Sesame Street and vice-president of the Carnegie Corporation with a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Yale University developed
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Jan 3
In 1963, 15 black girls were arrested for protesting segregation laws at the Martin theatre. Aged 12-15, they were locked in an old, abandoned stockade for 45 days without their parents knowledge. They came to be known as The Leesburg Stockade Girls,

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The girls marched from Friendship Baptist Church to the Martin Theater, attempting to buy tickets at the front entrance, defying segregation laws. Police attacked with batons and arrested them, transporting them to a Civil War-era stockade in Leesburg, Georgia, 15 miles away. Image
The stockade had no beds, a broken toilet, and only hot water from a shower. The girls slept on concrete floors in sweltering heat, ate undercooked burgers, and drank from a single cup. Parents were not informed of their location for weeks, heightening their fear and isolation. Image
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Jan 1
On this day in 1923, a lie by a white woman that she’d been sexually assaulted by a black man, led to the destruction of the predominantly African American town of Rosewood, Florida, thus the Rosewood Massacre.

A THREAD Image
Rosewood was a quiet, self-sufficient town in Florida. By 1900 the population in Rosewood had become predominantly African-American. Some people farmed or worked in local businesses, including a sawmill in nearby predominantly white town.
A rumour spread by a white woman, Fanny Taylor, sparked a massacre in the predominantly black town. Taylor claimed she was sexually assaulted in her house by a Black man. A group of white men believed her claims that she was raped by Jesse Hunter, a recently escaped convict.
Read 8 tweets
Jan 1
History of the New Year’s Watch Night Service.

The Watch Night Services in Black communities can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as “Freedom’s Eve.”

THREAD Image
On that night, black people came together in churches and private homes all across the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation actually had become law. Image
Just a few months earlier, on September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the executive order that declared enslaved people in the rebelling Confederate States legally free. However, the decree would not take effect until the start of the new year.
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Dec 31, 2025
In 1780, Paul Cuffee, his brother & 5 other Black men petitioned the Massachusetts legislature demanding the right to vote.

He won free black men the right to vote in Massachusetts on the basis of "No Taxation Without Representation."

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Paul Cuffee was born Paul Slocum on Jan. 17, 1759, Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, to Kofi Slocum, a farmer & freed slave, and Ruth Moses, a native American of the Wampanog nation.
In 1766 he & his brother John inherited a 116 acre farm from their father in Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts, near Dartmouth. He changed his surname to Kofi, spelled "Cuffee." The name Kofi suggests that his father came from the Ashanti or Ewe people of Ghana.
Read 15 tweets
Dec 27, 2025
Did you know Singer, dancer and activist Josephine Baker was also a spy in World War 2 for the French Air Force!

She found fame and freedom after fleeing racism in America and led a double life informing on the Nazis.

A THREAD Image
A talented dancer and singer, in 1927, Baker caused a sensation by performing at the Folies Bergère in Paris in a skirt made from bananas. Image
In 1934 she also became the first black woman to star in a major motion picture. Image
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Read 13 tweets

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