Racists often make pseudoscientific claims in these newsgroups that blacks
are unaccomplished in matters of higher learning...let's debunk that bigoted
Reichwing conservative bullshit right now:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmscientists1.html

quote

Black Scientists & Inventors

Benjamin Banneker, Thomas Jennings, other exceptional scientists

by Ann Marie Imbornoni

During slavery, most black slaves were denied formal education and in fact
many laws were passed in the South prohibiting slave literacy in the
aftermath of various slave rebellions. Even free blacks in the century
before and after the Civil War were limited in their access to mainstream,
quality education and vocational training.

This limited education and training meant that, for the most part, blacks
were shut out of professional occupations and confined to working in
industries deemed acceptable for them, such as domestic services, some
manual trades, and agriculture. Nevertheless a small number of exceptionally
talented blacks were able to obtain an education and, through their life's
work, make significant contributions to American life.

Two early African-American scientists, namely mathematician and astronomer
Benjamin Banneker and agricultural chemist George Washington Carver, have
become legendary for their intellect and ingenuity.

Born free in Maryland, Banneker was largely self-taught. He constructed the
first striking clock to be made in America, helped survey the boundaries for
Washington, D.C., and published an almanac, which he compiled based on his
own astronomical observations and calculations.

Carver was born into slavery at the very end of the Civil War. He attended
Iowa State College of Agriculture, where he received degrees in agricultural
science. During his career as a researcher and educator, he advocated
innovative agricultural methods and developed hundreds of applications for
certain agricultural products, such as the peanut.

Born free in Maryland, Banneker was largely self-taught. He constructed the
first striking clock to be made in America, helped survey the boundaries for
Washington, D.C., and published an almanac

Although Banneker and Carver are probably the best-known black scientists,
they were not the only ones. The achievements of a selection of pioneering
black scientists, including Banneker and Carver, are outlined in the list of
African American Scientists below.

Unlike black slaves, free blacks prior to the Civil War were entitled to
receive patents for their inventions. Though, again, because blacks lacked
educational and vocational opportunities, few had the necessary skills or
experience to develop their inventive ideas or patent them.

Despite these constraints, there were a number of successful black inventors
whose inventions proved useful and important. Thomas Jennings, the first
known African American to hold a patent, used the money he earned from his
invention to fund abolitionist causes.

Some slaves, who were skilled craftsmen, did create devices or techniques
that benefited their masters' enterprises. According to a decision by the
federal government in 1858, though, neither the slave nor the slave owner
could claim ownership rights to such an invention. In 1870, following the
Civil War, the U.S. patent laws were revised so that anyone, regardless of
race, could hold a patent. Consequently the number of patents issued to
African Americans soared. Below is a list of some notable African-American
inventors.

African American Scientists

Benjamin Banneker
(1731-1806)Born into a family of free blacks in Maryland, Banneker learned
the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic from his grandmother and a
Quaker schoolmaster. Later he taught himself advanced mathematics and
astronomy. He is best known for publishing an almanac based on his
astronomical calculations.

Rebecca Cole
(1846-1922)Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cole was the second black
woman to graduate from medical school (1867). She joined Dr. Elizabeth
Blackwell, the first white woman physician, in New York and taught hygiene
and childcare to families in poor neighborhoods.

Edward Alexander Bouchet
(1852-1918)Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Bouchet was the first African
American to graduate (1874) from Yale College. In 1876, upon receiving his
Ph.D. in physics from Yale, he became the first African American to earn a
doctorate. Bouchet spent his career teaching college chemistry and physics.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
(1856-1931)Williams was born in Pennsylvania and attended medical school in
Chicago, where he received his M.D. in 1883. He founded the Provident
Hospital in Chicago in 1891, and he performed the first successful open
heart surgery in 1893.

George Washington Carver
(1865?-1943)Born into slavery in Missouri, Carver later earned degrees from
Iowa Agricultural College. The director of agricultural research at the
Tuskegee Institute from 1896 until his death, Carver developed hundreds of
applications for farm products important to the economy of the South,
including the peanut, sweet potato, soybean, and pecan.

Charles Henry Turner
(1867-1923)A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Turner received a B.S. (1891) and
M.S. (1892) from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. (1907) from the
University of Chicago. A noted authority on the behavior of insects, he was
the first researcher to prove that insects can hear.

Ernest Everett Just
(1883-1941)Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, Just attended
Dartmouth College and the University of Chicago, where he earned a Ph.D. in
zoology in 1916. Just's work on cell biology took him to marine laboratories
in the U.S. and Europe and led him to publish more than 50 papers.

Archibald Alexander
(1888-1958)Iowa-born Alexander attended Iowa State University and earned a
civil engineering degree in 1912. While working for an engineering firm, he
designed the Tidal Basin Bridge in Washington, D.C. Later he formed his own
company, designing Whitehurst Freeway in Washington, D.C. and an airfield in
Tuskegee, Alabama, among other projects.

Roger Arliner Young
(1889-1964)Ms. Young was born in Virginia and attended Howard University,
University of Chicago, and University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a
Ph.D. in zoology in 1940. Working with her mentor, Ernest E. Just, she
published a number of important studies.

Dr. Charles Richard Drew
(1904-1950)Born in Washington, D.C., Drew earned advanced degrees in
medicine and surgery from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, in 1933 and
from Columbia University in 1940. He is particularly noted for his research
in blood plasma and for setting up the first blood bank.

African American Inventors

Thomas L. Jennings
(1791-1859)A tailor in New York City, Jennings is credited with being the
first African American to hold a U.S. patent. The patent, which was issued
in 1821, was for a dry-cleaning process.

Norbert Rillieux
(1806-1894)Born the son of a French planter and a slave in New Orleans,
Rillieux was educated in France. Returning to the U.S., he developed an
evaporator for refining sugar, which he patented in 1846. Rillieux's
evaporation technique is still used in the sugar industry and in the
manufacture of soap and other products.

Benjamin Bradley
(1830?-?)A slave, Bradley was employed at a printing office and later at the
Annapolis Naval Academy, where he helped set up scientific experiments. In
the 1840s he developed a steam engine for a war ship. Unable to patent his
work, he sold it and with the proceeds purchased his freedom.

Elijah McCoy
(1844-1929)The son of escaped slaves from Kentucky, McCoy was born in Canada
and educated in Scotland. Settling in Detroit, Michigan, he invented a
lubricator for steam engines (patented 1872) and established his own
manufacturing company. During his lifetime he acquired 57 patents.

Lewis Howard Latimer
(1848-1929)Born in Chelsea, Mass., Latimer learned mechanical drawing while
working for a Boston patent attorney. He later invented an electric lamp and
a carbon filament for light bulbs (patented 1881, 1882). Latimer was the
only African-American member of Thomas Edison's engineering laboratory.

Granville T. Woods
(1856-1910)Woods was born in Columbus, Ohio, and later settled in
Cincinnati. Largely self-educated, he was awarded more than 60 patents. One
of his most important inventions was a telegraph that allowed moving trains
to communicate with other trains and train stations, thus improving railway
efficiency and safety.

Madame C.J. Walker
(1867-1919)Widowed at 20, Louisiana-born Sarah Breedlove Walker supported
herself and her daughter as a washerwoman. In the early 1900s she developed
a hair care system and other beauty products. Her business, headquartered in
Indianapolis, Indiana, amassed a fortune, and she became a generous patron
of many black charities.

Garrett Augustus Morgan
(1877-1963)Born in Kentucky, Morgan invented a gas mask (patented 1914) that
was used to protect soldiers from chlorine fumes during World War I. Morgan
also received a patent (1923) for a traffic signal that featured automated
STOP and GO signs. Morgan's invention was later replaced by traffic lights.

Frederick McKinley Jones
(1892-1961)Jones was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. An experienced mechanic, he
invented a self-starting gas engine and a series of devices for movie
projectors. More importantly, he invented the first automatic refrigeration
system for long-haul trucks (1935). Jones was awarded more than 40 patents
in the field of refrigeration.

David Crosthwait, Jr.
(1898-1976)Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Crosthwait earned a B.S. (1913) and
M.S. (1920) from Purdue University. An expert on heating, ventilation, and
air conditioning, he designed the heating system for Radio City Music Hall
in New York. During his lifetime he received some 40 U.S. patents relating
to HVAC systems.

end quote

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmscientists1.html

If you've ever received a blood transfusion, thank the black man.

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