People, Locations, Episodes

Globe Support for Electric Lamp patented

*On this date in 1882, a Black man co-patented a globe supporter for electric lamps.   Lewis Latimer and J. Tregoning received credit for their work.  The patent number is #255,212.

Carbon Manufacturer Unit patented

*On this date in 1882, a Black man received a patent for a process to manufacture carbons.   Lewis Latimer received credit for this work.  The Patent number is #252,386.

Black hair care and culture, a story

This date is Hairstylist Appreciation Day and The Registry looks briefly at African American hair.

The history of “Black Hair and Beauty Culture” mirrors the intricacy of both African and American cultures. Over the years, African American hair has been associated with the ideology of white visual conception. Some people say that blacks have embraced hairstyles and beauty methods that reflect popular European standards of beauty. However, Blacks have used their West African roots and their own artistry to create styles and standards that reflect a unique black culture.

The Royal African Company (RAC) Founded

*On this Indigenous Peoples Day, the 1662 founding of the Royal African Company (RAC) is briefly examined on African American Registry.  This was an Irish/English commercial slave trading company set up by the royal Stuart family and City of London to trade along the west coast of Africa. It was led by the Duke of York, who was the brother of Charles II and later took the throne […]

Wentworth Cheswell, one of New Hampshire’s finest

Wentworth Cheswell was born on this date in 1746. He was a Black businessman and politician.

From Newmarket, NH Cheswell was the only child of Hopestill and Catherine Keniston Cheswell. There is virtually no information about Catherine Keniston in Newmarket town records. However, the various local historians and genealogists generally accept that she came from a local Newmarket/Durham family, and that she was white. Like his father before him, Wentworth Cheswell was born to a white mother.

Prince Hall born

*Prince Hall was born (circa) on this date in 1748. He was a Black preacher, administrator, mason and businessman.   From Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies Prince Hall was born free. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was a white Englishman and his mother a free Black French woman. In 1765, at the age of 17, he worked […]

Pierre Toussaint, Businessman and Philanthropist

*Pierre Toussaint was born on this date in 1766. He was Haitian immigrant to America, businessman and philanthropist.

Sally Hemings, a controversial Black woman

*The birth of Sally Hemings in 1773 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black domestic chambermaid. She was also the mistress to and mother of (some) of the children of president Thomas Jefferson.

Frank McWorter born

*The birth of Free Frank McWorter is celebrated on this date in 1777.  He was a Black slave, abolitionist and businessman who bought his own freedom.   Frank McWorter was born into slavery in South Carolina to Juda, a Black West African woman abducted into slavery and transported to the colony. His father was her white master, George McWhorter, a Scots-Irish planter. According to family tradition, […]

Elleanor Eldridge, businesswoman amid oppression

*Elleanor Eldridge was born on this date in 1785. She was a Black entrepreneur.

Black architects have a rich American history

On this date, we celebrate African American architecture. Blacks have been involved in building and architecture since the colonial era of America.

The Cotton Gin patented

*On this date in 1794, Eli Whitney patented the Cotton Gin which he invented; (or did he?).

African slaves, because they were not citizens, could not register any invention with the patent office. Their owners could not register a slave’s invention either, since the law required that the patent be issued to the actual inventor. Consequently, any free person wanting to patent something could not acknowledge any contribution from a slave. Thus it was easy to steal a slave’s ideas and patent them.

Lewis Temple, inventor for the whaling industry

This date marks the birth of Lewis Temple, a Black inventor, in 1800.

He was the creator of a whaling harpoon, known as “Temple’s Toggle” and “Temple’s Iron” that became the standard harpoon of the whaling industry in the middle of the 19th century. Lewis Temple was a skilled blacksmith, not a whaler. He was born a slave in Richmond, VA, and went to New Bedford, MA, in 1829. By 1836, Temple was one of the 315,000 free black people in the United States and a successful businessman who operated a whale craft shop on the New Bedford waterfront.

Businessman and Abolitionist William Goodridge born

*The birth of William Goodridge is celebrated on this date in 1805. He was a Black businessman and abolitionist.

Journalist Phillip A. Bell born

*Philip Alexander Bell was born on this date in 1808. He was a Black journalist and abolitionist.