OK Leon, here’s my contribution.
Little known black history fact:
Who: Jemmy
What: The ‘Stono Rebellion
When: 1739

The earliest known organized act of rebellion against slavery was lead by a slave named ‘Jemmy’. Jemmy gathered about 20 slaves and marched down a country road, carrying banners proclaiming “Liberty!”.

The men and women continue to walk south, recruiting more slaves along the way. By the time they stop to rest for the night, their numbers approached one hundred.

What actually triggered the rebellion was the soon-to-be-enacted Security Act. A response to the white’s fears of insurrection, the act required that all white men carry firearms to church on Sundays. Anyone who didn’t comply with the new law by September 29 would be subjected to a fine.

By Vahostage on Feb 3, 2008

Jamestown, Va is the first place Africans arrived in America.

In 2009, Disney is releasing The Frog Princess, The first cartoon with a black Princess.

Elmo, the most popular Muppet, is Black. Well, the man behind Elmo, Kevin Clash, is.

By kayellejaye on Feb 3, 2008

Last Year T. Dungy becomes the first African-American to be the Head Coach of a Superbowl winning team. This year, interestingly Mike Carey will become the first African-American to referee the Superbowl.

By CM on Feb 3, 2008

John Lansgton was a black leader, educator, and diplomat, who is believed to have been the first black ever elected to public office in the United States.

1888 he was a Republican candidate from Virginia for the U.S. House of Representatives, and, after a challenge of the election returns that took almost two years, he succeeded in unseating his Democratic opponent and served in Congress from Sept. 23, 1890, to March 3, 1891.

By Mr Brem on Feb 3, 2008

okay leon so i tried here goes…hope i dont bore you guys but i found this interesting

JAMES HOWARD MEREDITH

“…Meredith is best known as the first African American student of the University of Mississippi. In the fall of 1962 Meredith risked his life when he successfully applied the laws of integration and became the first black student at the University of Mississippi, a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement which sparked riots on the Oxford campus that left two people dead.

Meredith conceived and organized the Walk Against Fear, a march from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi, in a bold and selfless repudiation of the physical violence faced by African Americans for exercising their voting rights. Meredith was shot on the march, and when he was physically able to resume the march, he did so, joined this time by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other prominent civil rights leaders of the day.

1962 University of Mississippi Riot

President Kennedy ordered Federal Marshals to escort James Meredith, the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, to campus. A riot broke out and before the National Guard could arrive to reinforce the marshals, two students were killed. When he applied to Mississippi Officials at the school returned his application. Mr. Meredith took his case to court. On September 10, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he had the right to attend the University of Mississippi. The Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, personally blocked Mr. Meredith from registering at the University even after the Supreme Court ruled. Finally, on September 30, 1962, a Sunday, Mr. Meredith was escorted onto the campus by federal marshals and Civil Rights Division lawyers. Stationed on or near the campus to protect him were 123 deputy federal marshals, 316 US Border Patrolmen, and 97 federal prison guards. Within an hour, the federal forces were attacked by a mob that would grow to number 2,000 and who fought them with guns, bricks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails. The marshals had been ordered not to shoot and so used tear gas to try to stop the rioting. The violence continued until President Kennedy sent 16,000 federal troops to the campus. When it was over, 2 people were dead, 28 marshals had been shot, 160 people were injured, and James Meredith became the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi…”

oh yeah hit me up sharaeturner@bankofny.com

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 4, 2008

In 1787 (75 years before the Emanicpation Proclamation) Robert Carter III instituted a program of gradual manumission of all slaves attached to his estate. His release of slaves, numbering more than 500, is the largest known private manumission in the history of the United States. The program was designed to be gradual so as to lessen the resistance of white neighbors. As recorded in the Virginia courts, his “Deed of Gift” was a legal and binding contract that allowed the slaves listed to be freed at the date determined on the deed. Mr. Carter allowed the slaves to choose their respective surnames and not have to be given thier slavemaster’s last name.

Carter rented land to recently freed slaves, sometimes evicting previous white tenants. In 1793, perhaps prompted by the hostility of former friends who didn’t approve of his religious convictions or his “deed of manumission” to free his slaves, Carter moved to Baltimore with his wife Frances Anne Tasker (Benjamin Tasker’s daughter). Upon moving north, he turned over control of his plantations to his six daughters and 2 surviving sons.

Mr. Carter owned vast areas of land in Virginia and was at that time the richest man in America. While his counterparts, like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, were giving speeches about freeing their slaves, Robert Carter III did the things he said he believed in.
The names of these plantations were, Nomony Hall, Aries, Old Ordinary, Taurus, Gemini, Forrest Quarter and Coles Point, in Westmoreland County, VA. Aquarius, Scorpio, Capricorn, Libra, Virgo, and Sagittarius lay in Frederick County,VA and Leo in Loudoun County, VA. He also had two plantations called Cancer, one in Richmond County, the other in Prince William County. Robert died with few friends, but he was regarded as a great man by the more than 500 slaves that he attempted to free, a man way ahead of his time.

My ancestors were members of 2 families that were among the 500 that were freed.

http://www.geocities.com/newmanthompsonlegacy/

http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/HB_RC.HTM

http://www.npr.org/programs/watc/features/2001/antijefferson/010901.antijefferson.html

Although you will most likely not find any information about this founding father in your history books from school there is a book you can read:

The First Emancipator: The Forgotten Story of Robert Carter, the Founding Father Who Freed His Slaves

http://www.amazon.com/First-Emancipator-Forgotten-Robert-Founding/dp/0375508651

By City Girl on Feb 4, 2008

oh leon u suck lol i had to search hard for that one! jus kiddin u don’t suck…but im goin to try again or is that against the rules?

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 4, 2008

okay so the first african american…

…known author…jupiter hammon

…to receive a degree from an american college…alexander twilight

…to be elected to public office and to serve in a state legislature.

…university operated and ran by blacks…wilberforce university

…invited to dine at the white house…booker t washington.

…signature to appear on US paper currency…Blanche K Bruce Registrar of Treasury

…first black cop of New York…wiley overton.

…ugly black person to be “desired” by “beautiful” women and actually make money to support his 6 children in the process…flavor flav

leon if this isnt enough then i give up lol

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 4, 2008

nevermind im not going to give up because i never win anything lol dammit im going to dig deep for this one lol

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 4, 2008

Walter S. McAfee is the African American mathematician and physicist who first calculated the speed of the moon. McAfee participated in Project Diana in the 1940s - a U.S. Army program, created to determine whether a high frequency radio signal could penetrate the earth’s outer atmosphere. To test this, scientists wanted to bounce a radar signal off the moon and back to earth. But the moon was a swiftly moving target, impossible to hit without knowing its exact speed. McAfee made the necessary calculations,
and on January 10, 1946,
the team sent a radar pulse through a special 40-feet square antenna towards the moon. Two and a half seconds later, they received a faint signal, proving that transmissions from earth could cross the vast distances of outer space. Official news of this scientific breakthrough did not include McAfee’s name, nor was there any recognition of the essential role he played. But Americans could not have walked on the moon had it not been for Walter S. McAfee and his calculations.

By Cephas on Feb 4, 2008

The word, “coffee,” comes from Caffa, Ethiopia, where it was first used and where it still grows wild.

By @ster on Feb 4, 2008

John Sweat Rock (1825-1866), a noted Boston lawyer, became in 1865 the first African-American to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the first Black person to speak before the U.S. House of Representatives.

By DCGyrl on Feb 4, 2008

George Branham III - first black to win on the Professional Bowlers Association tour; first black to win a national bowling title.

By msdailey on Feb 4, 2008

Special Correspondence of the New-York Times.

May 28, 1870, Wednesday
Page 8, 927 words

Considerable excitement was caused here on Tuesday by the arrival of the colored appointee for the Mississippi cadetship. His name is MICHAEL HOWARD, and his pure African descent is unmistakably manifested in his clear back complexion, largely white eyes and closely-crimped hair.

By msdailey on Feb 4, 2008

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was a labor union in the United States organized by the predominantly African-American Pullman Porters. Organized in 1925, it struggled for twelve years before winning its first collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company.

It was, in 1935 the first labor organization led by African-Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor. It merged in 1978 with the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks (BRAC), now known as the Transportation Communications International Union.

The leaders of the BSCP—including A. Philip Randolph, its first president, and C. L. Dellums, its vice president and the uncle of U.S. Representative Ron Dellums—became leaders in the civil rights movement and continued to play a significant role in it after it focused on the eradication of segregation in the South.

By msdailey on Feb 4, 2008

I see the competition is heating up. Here are some other contributions:

Isaac Murphy, a great thoroughbred jockey, was the first to win three Derbys and the only jockey to win the the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks and the Clark Handicap within the same year. Mr Murphy was a black man!

The “306 Group” was a club that provided support for African-American artists during the 1940s. It was founded by the artist Charles Alston at 306 W. 141st street in Harlem and served as a studio and meeting place for some of the century’s most prominent black artists such as the poet Langston Hughes, the sculptor Augusta Savage, the painter Jacob Lawrence and the artist Romare Bearden.

Cathay Williams was the first and only known female Buffalo Soldier. She was born into slavery and worked for the Union army during the Civil War. She posed as a man and enlisted as Williams Cathay in the 38th infantry in 1866. She was given a medical discharge in 1868.

Mark Dean along with his co-inventor Dennis Moelle created a microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices. This invention allows the use of computer plug-in like disk drives, speakers, scanners, etc.

Ok, I am like Ms. SarKastic, I AM TRYING TO WIN!!!

By Vahostage on Feb 4, 2008

Hmpf. I thought I had a good one, but I cant find any hard evidence of it online. Damn the rumors that it was a Black lesbian that started the Stonewall Riots! Dammit!

Ill be back.

L

By lola gets on Feb 4, 2008

Straight from Ghana!! Happy Black History Month!!

Before the famous back-to-Africa movement of Marcus Garvey, there was a similar movement, not by an African-American or West Indian, but actually a Chief from Ghana, West Africa called Alfred C. Sam.

He traveled to the USA and brought back hundreds of African-Americans from Oklahoma, USA to resettle on the continent. This was called the Africa Movement of 1914-1916. See “The Longest Way Home: Chief Alfred C. Sam’s Back To Africa movement” by William Bittle and Gilbert Geis for a simplified version. (For the uncensored version, you’d have to come here!hahaha)

Now this is where it gets murky. The American historical sources said (and still say) that people were frustrated with life in Africa and many fled back to Oklahoma, but the Gold Coast colonial archives show that this sentiment was raised to discourage other African-Americans from attempting such trips. Indeed, many black newspapers were against such an idea at the time. Still, many African-Americans literally sold all they owned to make the trip. Unfortunately, there was only one such trip. If there is anything unanimous though, it’s that although adjusting to life in Africa was difficult for them, they did receive a warm welcome.

By Kweku on Feb 5, 2008

Egbert Austin “Bert” Williams

“…Throughout his career Williams achieved many firsts. In 1901 he became the first African American to become a best selling recording artist, and in 1902 he became an international star with his performance in the show In Dahomey, the first black musical to be performed on Broadway. Also, in 1910 Williams became the first black to be regularly featured in a Broadway revue when he joined the Ziegfeld Follies, and he even came to claim top billing for the show.

Despite Williams’s superstar popularity many people still refused to look past the color of his skin. As a comedian and songwriter he was loved by blacks and whites both, yet when he was off stage he often faced racism even by the restaurants and hotels that he played for. Williams also was forced to perform in blackface makeup and he could not escape playing stereotypical characters in his performances. Still, Williams was one of the most important pioneers for African American entertainers, and after his death on March 4, 1922 the Chicago Defender insisted that “No other performer in the history of the American stage enjoyed the popularity and esteem of all races and classes of theater-goers to the remarkable extent gained by Bert Williams.”

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 5, 2008

Just peeping your blog, and it’s way cool…

Here’s a fact: Paul Robeson went to the USSR over 70 years ago (so you might be a negro, but you ain’t the first African to go, papi):

http://www.mltranslations.org/Miscellaneous/RobesonSU.htm

He even wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Hear it go….

http://www.lyrics007.com/Paul%20Robeson%20Lyrics/Anthem%20Of%20The%20Ussr%20Lyrics.html

By G-n-B on Feb 5, 2008

”…In 1965, Bill Cosby became the first African American actor to star in a weekly television dramatic series, I Spy (1965–8), winning two Emmys as an undercover Central Intelligence Agency agent. Later series were The Bill Cosby Show (1969–71), The New Bill Cosby Show (1972–3), and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–84). His interest in children and education led him to earn MA and EdD degrees at the University of Massachusetts and to incorporate many of his ideas and ideals in his work.In 2003 he was honoured with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.”

Henry Louis Gates Jr. AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES
“Henry Louis Gates Jr. a black scholar, educator, writer, editor, literary critic graduated from Yale in 1973. He took a year off as an undergraduate to travel to East Africa, where he worked in a hospital as an anesthetist. He earned a M.A. and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, where he studied under Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka. Gates was the university’s first black American to earn a Ph.D. He won a MacArthur Genius Award in 1981 and currently serves as the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University.”

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 5, 2008

Okay leon this is alot harder than i thought it would be. although i am learning alot more this is fustrating because i cant find anythign really good… i guess ur lookin for creativity, originality and overall a great fact…. well dammit the greatest black history fact that i know of is that a woman named sharon gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl on May 30, 1989 and named her Ms. Sarkastic. The greatest day in history known to all of mankind.!! but here is what else i found out today…

1492-1493—A black navigator, Pedro Alonso Nino, travels with Christopher Columbus’ first expedition to the New World.

1494—The first Africans arrive in Hispaniola with Christopher Columbus. They are free persons.

1619—Approximately 20 blacks from a Dutch slaver are purchased as indentured workers for the English settlement of Jamestown. These are the first Africans in the English North American colonies.

1822—Bernardo, the first cotton plantation with enslaved people is established in Texas by former Georgia resident Jared E. Groce on the Brazos River.

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 5, 2008

Florida A&M University captured the first-ever NCAA Division 1-AA National Championship in 1978.

By Jabari Talib on Feb 5, 2008

Didn’t read all the comments ahead of this one, so forgive me if this is stale. Despite how Hollywood portrays them, the Egyptian Pharaohs were black.

By Leon on Feb 5, 2008

The first American to hold a Black man as a slave for life was another Black man– Anthony Johnson in 1623. By law, his 13 “indentured servants” were only supposed to serve for 7 years. One of Johnson’s slaves complained to a white visitor, who advised him to simply leave. The servant followed this advice, and Johnson sued the instigator for costing him property. He won his case, the courts deciding that the servant did indeed belong to Johnson for life. The visitor was ordered to bay Johnson damages for the slave, and the case set the dangerous precedent for more stringent Virginia laws regarding slavery.

By Nikiloveli on Feb 5, 2008

Oops– forgot to site a source. “Dirty Little Secrets About Black History: Its Heroes & Other Troublemakers” by Claud Anderson. If you don’t have a copy, get one, stat.

By Nikiloveli on Feb 5, 2008

did you know that Emiliano Zapata [Salazar] one of the liberators of Mexico from Espana [Spanish] was mestizo [mixed African and native of the americas]?

By Mr. K Mjumbe on Feb 6, 2008

did you know that Emiliano Zapata [Salazar] one of the liberators of Mexico from Espana [Spain] was mestizo [mixed African and native of the americas]?

By Mr. K Mjumbe on Feb 6, 2008

black fact #00425….Not ALL black people like to eat fried chicken and drink sugared down Kool Aid

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 6, 2008

Black Fact # 00587… Bill Clinton’s real father {Earl Clinton) is black.

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 6, 2008

okay a for real fact…. black history month actually started in 1976…i dont know about you guys but i just found that one out.

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 6, 2008

Eunice Rivers was the black nurse who was actually responsible for recruiting black men at a local Macon County church to be a part of the Tuskegee “Bad Blood” Experiment.

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 6, 2008

“the Mayflower of Liberia, the first organized emigration of Blacks back to africa left New York for Sierra Leone with 86 Blacks on this date FEB 6 in 1820″

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 6, 2008

Ms. Doris Jones and Ms. Claire Haywood were the founders of Jones-Haywood School of Ballet. The first and oldest black owned dance school of classical ballet. Heavy weights that have danced in the studio include Chita Riveria, Keith Lee (first black dancer @ American Ballet), Hinton Battle (choreographer of the WIZ, movie Idlewile, the rap sheet is long)
The dance school still resides at 1200 Delafield Place, NW, Washington DC 20011

Leon this is great!!!!

By Bellini on Feb 6, 2008

The first Kentucky Derby winner Aristides was trained by African-American Ansel Williamson and rode to victory by African American jockey Oliver Lewis, one of 15 black jockeys in that race. Over all, 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbys were won by black jockeys and 5 were trained by black trainers.

The last black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby was Jimmy Winkfield who won in both 1901 and 1902, left the US for Europe and a lucrative racing career where he even rode for the Czar of Russia. He became fluent in several languages before he retired with over 2300 winners to his credit. You can buy the book about his life “Wink” at Amazon.

By Aaron on Feb 6, 2008

Dr. James Derhman (1762-1805)was born a slave, in Philadelphia. There are no early records of his first owner, but his subsequent masters were all doctors who taught him the skills to care for the sick. His first KNOWN master was Dr. John Kearsley Jr., a Philadelphia doctor, who specialized in sore throat ailments…..he was unlicensed and non-degreed, but became the first prominent Black medical practitioner in the U.S. He also wrote “An Account of the Putrid Sore throat at New Orleans,” which was presented before the College of Physician of Philadelphia and that paper firmly established Derham as a national medical authority on the relationship of the disease to the climate….He trested many patients patients with his personal concoction of “garden sorrel and sugar” that was so successful he lost fewer patients than other doctors.

By Ms. Erica Kane on Feb 6, 2008

Contrary to popular belief, the first Black Greek Organization still in existence is Sigma Pi Phi. Also known as the Boulé, this organization is made up of successful Black male college graduates. Membership is EXTREMELY exclusive and there are no undergraduate members.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is actually the first Black Greek COLLEGIATE organization.

http://www.sigmapiphi.org

By KaNisa on Feb 6, 2008

i dont know how much of a black history fact this is but dude who invented KOOL AID {Edwin E. Perkins}is not even black! not that he had to be but i just assumed that he was black… kool aid was invented in 1927 and during the great depression its demand dramatically increased… i guess this is just a fact in general

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 7, 2008

Sunken Road

“The battles of Fredericksburg in VA were fought in this area in 1862 and 1863. Blacks were active in the Civil War as body servants for confederate officers, loading and unloading supply wagons for troops, digging trenches and other activities. After the war, blacks were employed buying Union soldiers in the national cemetery at the end of Sunken Road.

The first black officer to be buried in the National Cemetery was Urbane Bass, a black Fredericksburg doctor who died in 1918 while serving in World War I in France.”

By Ms. SarKastic on Feb 7, 2008

My Black History fact is…

“Eleven years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, a young woman named Irene Morgan rejected that same demand on an interstate bus headed to Maryland from Gloucester, Virginia. Recovering from surgery and already sitting far in the back, she defied the driver’s order to surrender her seat to a white couple. Like Parks, Morgan was arrested and jailed. But her action caught the attention of lawyers from the NAACP, led by Thurgood Marshall, and in two years her case reached the Supreme Court.
Though the lawyers fervently believed that Jim Crow - the curious pseudonym for racial segregation - was unjust, they recognized the practice was still the law of the land, upheld by the 1896 Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. Instead of seeking a judgment on humanitarian grounds or the equal protection provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, they made the seemingly arcane argument that segregation in interstate travel violated the Constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause.
On June 3, 1946, that strategy paid off. In Irene Morgan v. Virginia, the court ruled that segregation in interstate travel was indeed unconstitutional as “an undue burden on commerce.” But though that the decision was now law, the southern states refused to enforce it, and Jim Crow continued as the way of life in the South. Yet there were those determined to do something about it.”
Extract taken from: http://www.robinwashington.com/jimcrow/journey.html
Interestingly this account—and most others—leaves out the fact that Irene Morgan was a Seventh-day Adventist.

By Ms. Devereaux on Feb 7, 2008

Everett ‘Bat Man’ Bailey was a great Negro League pitcher who also happened to be clinically blind. Word to Bock O’Neil.
http://dallaspenn.com/weblog/?p=530

Wallace ‘Suitcase’ Jefferson, a blackstronaut, from the old Negro Space Program was actually the first American to walk on the moon.
http://negrospaceprogram.com/blog/nsp-movie

By Dallas Penn on Feb 8, 2008

200,000 African American’s fought and died for the North during the Civil War. All of them were fresh off the plantation.

By DIRTY RED on Feb 8, 2008

July 6, 2005 (3 yrs ago)
UN Massacre in Haiti w/ video evidence:
http://haitixchangetv.magnify.net/item/J0M7M3FV02F9P70S

Also, Ms. Devereaux & the Interstate Commerce Clause has my vote.

By vince78 on Feb 11, 2008

Hello. My black history fact is this:
The Statue of Liberty in France is Black.
The STatue in its Original Form is Black.

That fact is at this url:
http://www.geocities.com/raglanr/black.html

When you go to the page, you will
see the heading what’s on this page,
click A Lesson in Black History: The Statue of Liberty and it will
take you to that section because the
page has alot of text.

This shows proof the Statue of Liberty, the original one is Black:

As for evidence that this is true:

Go to the Museum of the City of NY
Fifth Avenue, 103rd Street
Call 212-534-1672

or dial the same number above with this ext.208

Ask for Peter Simmons(He will send you documentation)

Check with the N.Y. Times Magazine part II May 18,1986

Also, the dark face of the original Statueof Liberty is in N.Y. Post June 17,1986.

Another thing is :

Check with the French Mission of the French EMbassy at the U.N. or in Washington D.C. and ask for some original French Material on the
Statue of LIberty.

(this includes the Bartholdi original model You can call 202-944-
6060 or 6400. for those public places.)

By Tamarva Butler on Feb 12, 2008

The phrase mother-fuc*er, was said to be uttered by a Jolly Coeur, a slave who seen his mother raped by a man named Schulz, while he was at the age of five. He came back at an older age to Dutch Suriname, and he cut his head off and used it for a bowling ball. Check out Dr. Tony Martin of Wellesley University for the results.The Phrase means slave master.

By Jerome Sistrunk on Feb 14, 2008

Great…I love free gifts, but more importantly I love to share knowledge…Here I go!
1)The inventor of the world famous water toy/gun the Super Soaker was an African American man, Lonnie Johnson.

2) You think Barack and Hillary are making history…well you’ll never guess who beat them to the punch. Fredrick Douglass and a (white)woman by the name of Victoria Woodhull were running mates in the 1872 presidential elections.

3) And I’ll give you this one for free…My grandfather George Clinton Key (1907-2003) was one of the last survivors of the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments. The last survivor, Ernest Hendon died in Jan. 2004.

I think what you are doing is great…it invites people to think further than “who invented the peanut” and “who invented the stoplight.” Much respect to you!

By slim on Feb 14, 2008

Since you like ashy humor, let me remind you about the importance of lubrication or the “Real McCoy”.
Up here in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Elijah McCoy around 1872 invented an automatic lubricator for oiling the steam engines of locomotives and boats. Lubricators were a bonus for railroads, allowing trains to run faster and more profitably with less need to stop for lubrication and maintenance.
Although McCoy was a master mechanic and engineer trained in Scotland, in the states he could only get a job as an oiler for the railroad. Working in that capacity, he understood the need and his invention helped the railroad industry enormously.

For more info, please check out:
http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/elijahmccoy.html

By Sage on Feb 14, 2008