From Dreams to Realty A Tribute to Inventors

Sarah Boone was an African American inventor who on April 26, 1892, obtained United States patent rights for her improvements to the ironing board. Boone's ironing board was designed to improve the quality of ironing sleeves and the bodies of women's garments.

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Glynn Turman introduces black men and women whose inventions have contributed to society from the time of slavery to today.

Percy Lavon Julian was a research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, plus a pioneer in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. His work laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone, other corticosteroids, and birth control pills. 

George Washington Carver), was an American Agricultural Scientist and Inventor. He actively promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion.

Carver developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, as a source of their own food and to improve their quality of life. 

 Granville Tailer Woods was an American inventor who held more than 50 patents.  He is also the first American of African ancestry to be a mechanical and electrical engineer after the Civil War. Self-taught, he concentrated most of his work on trains and streetcars. One of his notable inventions was the Multiplex Telegraph, a device that sent messages between train stations and moving trains. His work assured a safer and better public transportation system for the cities of the United States. 

Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. was an African American inventor and businessman as well as an influential political leader. Morgan's most notable invention was a smoke hood. Morgan also discovered and developed a chemical hair-processing and straightening solution. He created a successful company based on the discovery along with a complete line of hair-care products.