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...
Thomas Mensah

Thomas Mensah

Thomas Mensah Pioneered the Field of Fiber Optics Thomas Mensah was born in Kumasi, Ghana in 1950. His father, J.K. Mensah, was a businessman who shipped cocoa products to chocolate manufacturers in France. Thomas was an exceptionally bright child, learning to read...
Joseph Lee

Joseph Lee

Joseph Lee Created a Bread Making Machine Entrepreneur Joseph Lee was born in 1849 and lived most of his life in Boston, Massachusetts. Lee was very prominent in the food services industry, having begun working as a boy at a bakery. He soon began preparing, cooking...
Ernest Just

Ernest Just

Ernest Just Pioneer in Marine Biology and Zoology. Ernest Just was born on August 14, 1883 in Charleston, South Carolina. His mother worked as a school teacher and his father, a dock worker, died when Ernest was only four years old, forcing him to have to work in the...