Presents capsule accounts of notable first achievements by African Americans, arranged in the categories "Agriculture and Everyday Life, " "Dentistry and Nursing, " "Life Science, " "Math and Engineering, " "Medicine, " "Physical Science, " and "Transportation."

The intersection of race and technology: blackcreativity and the economic and social functions of the myth ofdisengenuity.

Traces the lives of fourteen black scientists and inventors who have made significant contributions in the various fields of science and industry.

Excluded from history books, overlooked in classrooms and neglected by the media, African Americans have long been denied an accurate picture of their contributions to America, from colonial days to the present. But times have changed and the record can now be set straight. From the inventors of the traffic light and the gas mask to winners of an Oscar and the Olympic gold, this authoritative resource reveals over 450 'firsts' by African Americans - wonderful accomplishments achieved despite poverty, discrimination and racism.

Did YOU know that a camera invented by a Black astrophysicist was used during the Apollo 16 space mission to collect ultraviolet images photographed from the moon?In fact did you know any of the following facts?• An early eighteenth century Virginia slave developed effective treatments against skin and venereal disease. In fact: 'His work was so outstanding that in 1729 the Virginia Legislature bought him from his owner, thus freeing him from slavery, to practice medicine exclusively'• Astronomical works by a late eighteenth century Black mathematician and astronomer were widely read and 'became a household staple in early America along with the Bible'• A nineteenth century African American blacksmith patented an invention described as 'the most important single invention in the whole history of whaling'• A nineteenth century inventor of Black South American heritage created such a revolution in the shoe industry, that it was said of him: 'What Edison is to artificial lighting, [he] is to footwear'• By 1913, African Americans held around 1,000 patents for various inventions in household goods, industrial machinery, transportation, electricity and chemical compounds• A Black physicist extended the Quantum Theory in the 1920s• Henry Ford described a Black botanist in the 1930s as 'the greatest living scientist'• Another Black chemist invented synthetic cortisone, an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis that broke the monopoly that European chemists had on the production of sterols• Twelve Black scientists and mathematicians worked on the Manhattan Project, i.e. the American nuclear bomb project, during World War II• A Black surgeon headed the blood bank system of the US and the UK during World War II• The research of a Black physicist and inventor of the 1960s may hold a key to addressing the main concerns of our times – dwindling sources of useable energy, rising energy costs, and increasing demand for energyFor too many people, it may be the first time that they had ever encountered such information. This is unfortunate. I believe that African and African Diasporan science history is a subject that has had too little attention paid to it. Some important writers have ventured into the field; Professor Ivan Van Sertima and his team, Mr J. A. Rogers, Mr Samuel Kennedy Yeboah, Dr Louis Haber, and Mr Hunter Havelin Adams III. My work synthesises and updates their findings. I also present the data in an easy to digest, bite-size way.This book is a general introduction to the role played by the African Americans in the evolution of the Space Sciences, Invention, Mathematics & Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Botany & Zoology, and Medicine & Surgery.

Honorable Mention, 2019 MLA Prize for a First Book Sole Finalist Mention for the 2018 Lora Romero First Book Prize, presented by the American Studies Association Exposes the influential work of a group of black artists to confront and refute scientific racism. Traversing the archives of early African American literature, performance, and visual culture, Britt Rusert uncovers the dynamic experiments of a group of black writers, artists, and performers. Fugitive Science chronicles a little-known story about race and science in America. While the history of scientific racism in the nineteenth century has been well-documented, there was also a counter-movement of African Americans who worked to refute its claims. Far from rejecting science, these figures were careful readers of antebellum science who linked diverse fields—from astronomy to physiology—to both on-the-ground activism and more speculative forms of knowledge creation. Routinely excluded from institutions of scientific learning and training, they transformed cultural spaces like the page, the stage, the parlor, and even the pulpit into laboratories of knowledge and experimentation. From the recovery of neglected figures like Robert Benjamin Lewis, Hosea Easton, and Sarah Mapps Douglass, to new accounts of Martin Delany, Henry Box Brown, and Frederick Douglass, Fugitive Science makes natural science central to how we understand the origins and development of African American literature and culture. This distinct and pioneering book will spark interest from anyone wishing to learn more on race and society.