Odin88

Recently, it has become popular to spread yet even more misinformation, this time regarding black inventions. While history has proven that blacks have failed to contribute anything significant to the building of civilization, campaigns are spreading across America attempting to credit black "inventors" with certain inventions. One such campaign is promoted by IBM who offers a poster of "Famous Black Inventions." Included on this poster are pictures of blacks and their supposed inventions - including the traffic light.

While the black Garrett A. Morgan did submit and receive a patent for a traffic signal in 1923, he did not invent the traffic light. The first "traffic light" was created in London in 1868, used to control the traffic of pedestrians and buggies. It was illuminated by gas using green and red colors, and was manually operated by policemen who turned a lever to reveal the appropriate color to the appropriate lane of traffic. Railroads were already using a lighting system as well. It was a police officer, William Potts, who first improved on the gas-light invention, which required a police officer to operate. William Potts recognized the need for something better when he observed that police officers were spending much of their time directing traffic after the invention of the automobile. He created an electric lighting system using red, amber, and green to control automobile traffic in Detroit. It was first used in 1920 and was the herald of the modern traffic light. William Potts was not black. Garrett A. Morgan's traffic light of 1923 did not contribute significantly to the traffic light of today, but resembled train switching lights already in use.

When reading these lists of so-called inventions, which are especially prevalent on the Internet, it becomes painfully obvious the lies contained within those lists. These lists are especially popular on college campuses. Afrocentrism is the term used to describe the attempts to cover-up the truth of history by spreading lies which claim that the blacks of Africa actually created civilization. This ridiculous theory is being taught in many schools and even universities. Many college graduates think they are being intelligent when they state that without H. A. Jackson, we wouldn't have a kitchen table, which he "invented" on October 6, 1896. This is how ridiculous these lists have become. I am sure that the kitchen table was invented centuries ago, although I don't believe the blacks in Africa were furnishing their mud huts with kitchen tables. H.A. Jackson may have submitted an idea for a patent which was a special modification of the kitchen table, but he certainly did not invent it, and neither did his patent have any significance on the civilization of the world. This is also true for W. R. Davis, Jr., who is credited with inventing the library table - in 1878!

What many are doing is obtaining patent lists of blacks and then attempting to pass them off as inventions. Most of what these people are doing is taking a certain invention, modifying it in some way, and then patenting that modification. In other words, they are not patenting original creations. Many are just outright lying. One list credits Sarah Boone, a female black, with the invention of the ironing board in 1892. White people were ironing clothes on ironing boards long before 1892.

J. Standard, another black, is credited with inventing the refrigerator in 1891. Yet, the truth of history reveals this is another lie. William Cullen demonstrated the first known artificial refrigeration at the University of Glasgow in 1748. In 1805, Oliver Evans, an American, designed the first refrigeration machine, and in 1844, John Gorrie used this design to build a refrigerator which he used to cool the air for his patients suffering from yellow fever. This all happened well before J. Standard ever submitted his patent. Furthermore, the concept of refrigeration was known by whites long before the first artificial devices were ever created.

The lists go on and on. One credits the invention of the two-stroke gasoline engine in 1950 and the internal combustion engine in 1958 to a black, Frederick M. Jones. The truth is that thermal engines were created as long ago as the 1600's by whites. Almost one hundred years before Frederick M. Jones, N. Otto developed the first successful four-stroke spark ignition gasoline engine in the 1870's. The same year, Dougald Clerk built the first successful two-stroke engine, which remains in use today. The first person to actually experiment with the internal combustion engine was a Dutchman, Christian Huygens, who did so in 1680. Most of the modern gasoline engines are descendants of Gottlieb Daimler's creation of 1885. For those who don't know this, Daimler was a German. Frederick M. Jones is also credited with the invention of the starter generator in 1949; however, electric ignitions had already been introduced in 1924. On the same note, another black, Andrew J. Beard, is credited with inventing the rotary engine in 1892. This is completely unfounded. The first practical rotary engine was created by a German, Felix Wankel, in 1927.

On a lighter note, Lydia O. Newman, a black, is credited with inventing the hairbrush in the late 1800's, despite the fact that white women have been brushing their hair for centuries. Burridge and Marshman supposedly invented the typewriter in 1885, despite the fact that Remington and Sons had already been selling the typewriter since 1874, and the original machine was created in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes. The initial typewriter did not have lowercase letters, but the shift key of the Number 2 typewriter, manufactured by Remington in 1878, allowed for lowercase letters. Other claims include riding saddles, which were supposedly invented by W. D. Davis in 1895. Again, this is claimed despite the fact that riding saddles were in use long before 1895, primarily by whites.

Another famous claim is that a black, Paul Williams, invented the helicopter. Again, a little research will prove this to be false. The fact is that no one person "invented" the helicopter. However, Leonardo da Vinci did pen down his own version of a helicopter long before Paul E. Williams was born. Furthermore, the first successful lift-off of a helicopter was accomplished in 1907 by a Frenchman, Paul Cornu, and Etienne Oehmichen, another Frenchman, was able to fly a helicopter 1 kilometer in 1924. This flight lasted 7 minutes and 40 seconds. From that moment, white engineers advanced and perfected the helicopter, and in 1937 the first practical helicopter was introduced. Not surprisingly, this first practical helicopter was a German creation - the Focke-Wulf Fw 61. Igor Sigorsky, a Russian, is credited with many innovations and record setting flights after this time which greatly enhanced helicopter engineering.

Perhaps one of the most ridiculous claims is that a black, W. A. Lavallette, invented the printing press, which he had patented in America. This was undoubtedly news to Gutenberg, who had already invented the printing press in 1445, long before America was even a country and almost fifty years before Columbus even landed.

The list goes on and on, and each and every so-called "invention" can be refuted in a similar manner, from the biscuit cutter (A. P. Ashbourne, 1875) to the "portable shield for infantry" (H. Spears, 1870). Anyone familiar with history should be aware that whites have been using devices to cut out biscuits long before A. P. Ashbourne, and I am sure that Roman soldiers from the first century never went into battle without a "portable shield for infantry." Michael Harney, another black, is credited with inventing the lantern. Why not credit him with inventing light or fire? Again, these claims are so ridiculous as to boggle the mind, yet many Americans blindly accept what they are being told as truth - white or black. What is worse, children are being taught these lies in schools supported by our tax money. There are also federally funded "black history" museums throughout the country spreading such lies.

Even the claim that the mulatto George Washington Carver invented peanut butter is false. The truth is that early civilizations often crushed peanuts into paste and Civil War soldiers ate "peanut porridge." As far as modern peanut butter is concerned, a St. Louis physician encouraged a food company owner to produce and sell peanut butter in 1890 to individuals who had difficulty chewing food. The physician had experimented with grinding peanuts and recognized peanut paste to be highly nutritious. Bayle, the owner of the food company, sold peanut butter for 6 cents per pound. Additionally, the first patent for peanut butter was obtained by John Harvey Kellogg, another physician experimenting with sources of protein for his patients. George Washington Carver didn't even begin his "peanut research" until 1903. Most of the so-called black inventors are mulattos like George Washington Carver, and do not deserve to be called black anyway.