It’s (Black) History! –Scholars & Inventors
Welcome to The Pen & the Needle! Ready to learn some Black history? Let’s get started!
This week, we are going to learn about a few African American scholars and inventors:
Alexander Twilight was the first African American to receive a college degree. Although he is said to have been born free, he became an indentured servant on a nearby farm in his hometown of Bradford,Vermont from the age of eight until the age of twenty-one. During his last year of servitude, he enrolled in Middlebury College where, two years later, he earned his bachelor’s degree. Later in 1863 he made history again by becoming the first African American to be elected to a public office.
George Carruthers is best known for his various inventions and hard work for studies of space. Dr. Carruthers earned a patent for his invention called “Image Converter for Detecting Electromagnetic Radiation Especially in Short Wave Lengths,” in 1969. He went on to create even more inventions that would benefit NASA. His inventions wound up being used for the first lunar walk in the Apollo 16 mission, offered the first amount of proof that molecular hydrogen exists in interstellar space, shot ultraviolet images of Haley’s Comet, and more.
Alfred Cralle, a Virginia native, is best known for his invention, the ice cream scooper, after noticing how hard it was to dispense while working at a drug store. He was also the first African American man in Pennsylvania to receive a patent for his invention.
Mr. Bouchet was the first Black man to graduate from Yale University in 1874 with a Ph. D. in the United States. He graduated with a degree in Physics, ranking number 6 in his class out of 124 students. While also at Yale, he became the first African American to be nominated to Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.
Further Reading
Alexander Twilight:
- http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-lucius-twilight-213035#educator-and-minister
- http://www.blackpast.org/aah/twilight-alexander-1795-1857
- http://www.biography.com/people/george-carruthers-538794#scientific-inventions
- http://www.blackhistorypages.net/pages/gcarruthers.php
- http://www.carnegielibrary.org/research/pittsburgh/patentees/cralle.html
- http://1019ampradio.cbslocal.com/2012/02/16/black-history-month-fast-facts-alfred-l-cralle/
23 thoughts on “It’s (Black) History! –Scholars & Inventors”
Leave a Reply to Jessica Cancel reply
I knew about George Carruthers but had forgotten what he invented, but had never heard about the others, still always good to learn.
Interesting stuff!! Thanks for sharing a little bit of history, I don't read history nearly as much as I should.
I didn't know about Alexander Twilight. What an accomplishment for that date and time period.
It is great to learn about all these great contributions thanks for sharing =)
Wow very interesting. Didn't know about any of this. I love history and need to read up on more!
Thanks for reading!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Come back next Thursday for some more history!
I had heard of Carruthers but not any of the others. Thank you for sharing with us. 🙂
Wow…just wow. What amazing people. Sadly I wasn't familiar with any of these men, but I'm totally impressed. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Claude Newman, but that's THE man whom I credit with changing my life and bringing me back to my faith. You can read about him here: http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2011/12/miraculous-story-of-claude-newman-his.html
Thanks so much for these keynotes in American History.
It is very interesting post about some amazing people. Great job, keep sharing.
I have not heard of any of these people. Thank you for sharing.
Didn't know any of these people…. Thank you for teaching me something new today.
Glad you stopped by!
I'm glad you were able to learn something 🙂
Glad I could offer the lesson!
Thanks for reading!
Thanks! Stop by every Thursday in February for more Black history facts!
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for stopping by and reading!
I'm glad to hear you learned something! I will most definitely be reading your post!
I'm glad I was able to teach someone something new!
I know right! I had never heard of him before this post, so I was impressed by it as well.