How would our lives be different?
In honor of Black History month I started looking for information pertaining generally to my topic of Household Tips. Much of what I found surprised me. Many of the things we all accept as common everyday items were invented by Blacks. Most of these were things I had never thought to ask who invented it; it had just always been there.
This made me begin to wonder how different our lives would be today without the inventions and discoveries made by Black men and women. A few of these inventors are familiar to us but most are names we never hear.
George Washington Carver is one of the best known. He only applied for three patents but his discoveries are many and play a very large role in our lives yet today. Carver, an agricultural chemist made many discoveries having to do with food. He took the lowly peanut from being something fed to pigs to a soil-enriching crop that would revolutionize southern agriculture.
Before he could get southern farmers to plant peanuts he had to develop a market for them. He invented three hundred uses for peanuts and hundreds more for soybeans. He also worked with pecans and sweet potatoes. His food related discoveries include: buttermilk, chili sauce, instant coffee, mayonnaise, and meat tenderizer. Some of the non-food discoveries we can thank Carver for are: adhesives, axle grease, bleach, fuel briquettes, ink, linoleum, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder and wood stain.
Can you imagine how our lives would be different without these very basic things in our lives? Before World War I textile dyes were imported from Europe. During the war when these dyes were unobtainable, Carver invented a way to replace them. He was able to produce 500 different shades of textile dye. He received his patents for developing a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans.
It would be easy to write an entire article about George Washington Carver but it is easy to find information on him in many other places. Let's look at a few people not so well known.
One of the staples found in any kitchen is sugar. The man who made sugar affordable and a common household item was Norbert Rillieux . He was born to an African American mother and a wealthy French father in New Orleans in 1806. He was born free and sent to school in New Orleans and Paris to study engineering.
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