Category: Black History Month

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Here Are 6 Important Places to Visit for Black History Month

February is Black History Month, commemorating the remarkable contributions of Black Americans. It’s an incredible legacy essential for all Americans to know about.

You can often find parks and other sites right in your hometown dedicated to facets of African American history, though you may need to look around a bit. Take the time to delve into the achievements behind the designations – it’s worth it. You may be surprised at what you uncover about the influence of the Black artists, politicians and leaders where you live.

For a more in-depth look at the culture and history of Black citizens throughout the U.S., here are a few places you should make plans to visit this February.

1. Civil Rights Trail

Crossing 15 states, this national trail tells the long story of the struggle of Black people for equality (still ongoing today, we should mention). One of the most important locations of the trail is the site where police confronted marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma, Alabama.

2. National Museum of African-American History and Culture

Located in Washington DC, the museum documents Black history and culture. It officially opened it’s doors in November, 2016.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

3. Beale Street Historic District

Many influential musicians contributed their talents to the young jazz and blues scene in this Memphis neighborhood, including Louis Armstrong and B.B. King. Blues fan Elvis Presley would go on to use the music he heard here as a teenager to develop his own style, which many would say put a white face on an African American style of music, thus making it acceptable for it to gain mass popularity in the 50s.

Photo Credit: Picryl

4. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Sharing space with the American Jazz Museum located in Missouri, this space is dedicated to Black baseball players. It houses photos and exhibits highlighting the careers of greats such as Jackie Robinson, Buck O’Neill and many others.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

5. African Meeting House

One of the oldest historically Black churches in the U.S., the African Meeting House was built in the early 1800s. Yo can find it in the Beacon Hill neighborhood in Boston, where it was significant as a meeting place for the Black community as they organized for the abolition of slavery.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

6. Harriet Tubman Historical Park

Famously a leader of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman dedicated herself to the cause of freedom from slavery, even when her dedication risked her own life. The land around her former home and her A.M.E. Zion church in Auburn, New York was made a national historic park in 2017.

Photo Credit: Flickr

There are hundreds of sites around the U.S. where you can learn about the rich, historical contributions of Black Americans. So this Black History Month, plan a visit to one to expand your knowledge about the heritage of Black culture—it’s a legacy not to be overlooked.

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8 Brilliant African American Inventors You Need to Know About

February is Black History Month, a time for us all to reflect on and highlight the incredible, but often overlooked, contributions that brilliant African American scientists, activists, freedom fighters, teachers, doctors, etc. have made towards the success of this great nation and their own communities.

Today, we’re remembering these 8 African American inventors who shaped the world we live in today.

#1. Jan Ernst Matzeliger

Photo Credit: Public Domain

The common person struggled to afford shoes in the 19th century, but that fact changed when Dutch Guiana immigrant Jan Ernst Matzeliger invented an automated machine that attached a shoe’s upper part to its sole. The device could make 700 pairs of shoes a day, while a worker was only able to sew about 50.

The lowered production costs led to lower shoe prices, and the average American foot thanked him.

#2. Mark E. Dean

Photo Credit: University of Tennessee

Dean was a computer scientists and engineer who worked for IBM leading the team that designed the ISA bus – a hardware interface that allowed multiple devices like printers, modems, and keyboards to all be plugged into a computer.

He also helped develop the first color computer monitor, and in 1999 helped create the world’s first gigahertz chip. He holds 3 of IBM’s original 9 patents and 20 overall.

He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1997 and is currently a professor at the University of Tennessee.

#3. George Carruthers

Photo Credit: Public Domain

An astrophysicist who spent his career working with the Space Science Division of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., George Carruthers is most famous for creating the ultraviolet camera/spectograph. NASA used the technology to launch Apollo 16 in 1972, and it helped prove that molecular hydrogen existed in space. It was used again in 1974 to help scientists observe Halley’s Comet on the U.S.’s first space station.

He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2003.

#4. Dr. Patricia Bath

Photo Credit: Public Domain

Dr. Bath revolutionized the field of ophthalmology by inventing a device that refined laser cataract surgery. She patented the Laserphaco Probe in 1988 and is the first female African American doctor to receive a medical patent.

Her research on health disparities between African American patients and other patients created a new discipline called community ophthalmology. She and other volunteers continue to offer primary care and treatment to under-served populations.

#5. Marie Van Brittan Brown

Photo Credit: Pixabay

A nurse and inventor, Marie Van Brittan Brown invented a precursor to the modern home TV security system. Her invention was born of a desire to feel safe in her NYC neighborhood, where she and her husband developed a way for a motorized camera to project images onto a TV monitor.

They filed for their patent in 1966 and it was approved in 1969.

#6. Thomas L. Jennings

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Jennings was the first African American person to receive a U.S. patent – he invented an early method of dry cleaning in 1821. He fought for his right as a free man to apply for and receive the patent despite his skin color and paved the way for future inventors of color to gain rights for their own inventions.

He used the money he earned to free the rest of his family and to donate to abolitionist causes.

#7. Alexander Miles

Photo Credit: Pixabay

We don’t know much about the life of Alexander Miles, who lived from 1830-1918, other than the fact that he was living in Duluth, MN, when he designed the first automatic doors for elevators. The safety feature saved travelers from accidentally falling into the shaft as they manually opened and closed the doors, and today’s elevators use similar technology.

#8. Charles Richard Drew

Dr. Drew with his wife and children
Photo Credit: NIH

Charles Richard Drew was a surgeon who created America’s first major blood banks. He studied transfusion medicine and refined key methods of collecting, processing, and storing plasma.

He’s also responsible for introducing “bloodmobiles,” and was the first African American doctor chosen as an examiner for the American Board of Surgery.

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