Lloyd Ray

Lloyd Ray

Lloyd Ray Created the Dust Pan Before Lloyd Ray patented his invention, anyone cleaning a room or a hall simply swept dirt, dust or trash out of a door onto the ground outside or used a piece of paper in order to collect it. Ray created a device with a metal...
William Purvis

William Purvis

William Purvis Invented a Fountain Pen William Purvis realized how much of an inconvenience it was to have to carry around a bottle of ink whenever you needed to sign a contract or fill out legal papers. He therefore decided to do something about it. On January 7,...
Robert Pelham

Robert Pelham

Robert Pelham An African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She founded a hair and beauty supply company aimed at Black consumers and was heralded by the the Guinness Book of World Records as the first female self-made...
John Parker

John Parker

John Parker Created a Screw for a Tobacco Press Entrepreneur John P. Parker was born in 1827 in Norfolk, Virginia. His father was white and his mother was a black slave. John was sold to a slave agent in 1835 and then sold to a slave caravan which took him to Mobile,...
George Murray

George Murray

George Murray Created a Cotton-chopping Device George Murray was, without a doubt, one of the most remarkable citizens of his time. A teacher, farmer, land developer and federal customs inspector, the former slave would go on to become a United States Congressman and...
Benjamin Montgomery

Benjamin Montgomery

Benjamin Montgomery Developed a Special Steamboat Propeller. From Slave to Inventor Benjamin Montgomery was born into slavery in 1819 in Loudon County, Virginia. He was sold to Joseph E. Davis, a Mississippi planter. Davis was the older brother of Jefferson Davis who...