African-American Inventors

Because African-American inventors are under-recognized for their accomplishments, we are featuring biographical sketches of these famous people including what they invented, how they conceived the idea and what developments have taken place since the original invention. This section is currently under development. It will soon feature many more inventors, so visit often.

Please help us further develop this section by e-mailing information you have about African-American inventors and/or inventions to our director of educational services at RMason6903@aol.com. If you are not African-American and you are interested in helping us develop a section on inventors from your ethnic culture please e-mail your information to RMason6903@aol.com. Remember to give the source(s) of your information so we can properly acknowledge the originator of any information posted on our site.

oJan Ernst Matzeliger
Inventor and Businessman
  oMadame C.J. Walker
Cosmetics Manufacturer
oElijah McCoy
"The Real McCoy"
  oGranville T. Woods
Prolific Inventor
oNorbert Rillieux
Slave Scientist
  oReggie Lindsey
Computer Analyst and Computing & Telecommunications Systems
oAfrican-American Railway Inventions   oAfrican Women Inventors
oAfrican-American Contributions to Science and Industry