*On this date in 1883, a Black inventor patented the first shoe-lasting machine.
Jan Matzeliger from Dutch Guiana revolutionized the shoe industry with his invention, patent #274,207.
Created Equal The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators
By James Michael Brodie
Copyright 1993, by Bill Adler Books, Inc.
William Morrow and Co. Inc., New York
ISBN 0-688-11536-5
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Mail Stop USPTO Contact Center
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313
1001 things everyone should know about African American History
by Jeffery C. Stewart,
Copyright 1996, DoubleDay
ISBN 0-385-47309-5
