5 Black Inventors Who Improved Everyday Life

At the National Inventors Hall of Fame^® (NIHF), we have the privilege of celebrating innovators who have helped move society forward. As we continue working to promote greater diversity within STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, throughout our education programs, we make it a priority to share lessons and stories from our increasingly diverse NIHF Inductees, including revolutionary Black inventors.

We invite you to learn more about a few of these incredible innovators below!

Marian Croak – VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Technology

Hall of Famer Marian Croak began her career working at Bell Labs (later AT&T Labs) and became fascinated with how technology could positively impact people’s lives. This interest led her to the field of network engineering, where she and her team began developing technology to allow voice communication using the internet. Known as VoIP, today this technology has become essential for personal communications and remote work and conferencing.

Garrett Morgan – Gas Mask; Three-Way Traffic Signal

Throughout his accomplished life, NIHF Inductee Garrett Morgan was concerned with the safety and welfare of those around him. His compassion for others is what led him to a life of innovation. His first well-known invention was the safety hood, a forerunner of the gas mask, which he and several volunteers used when rescuing workers trapped in a tunnel collapse under Lake Erie in 1916. Then in 1923, he patented his best-known invention: a three-way traffic signal that showed drivers when to stop and go. Morgan would go on to sell the patent rights to his three-way traffic signal to General Electric, which developed an electric version.

Mark Dean – Peripherals

Together with his co-inventor and fellow NIHF Inductee Dennis Moeller, Mark Dean created a microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices. This bus represents the backbone of the computer by allowing it to connect to peripherals including printers, monitors, keyboards and other devices. Today, this technology is standard across a majority of computers and is known as the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) expansion bus. Today, Dean is an emeritus professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and holds more than 40 patents.

Lewis Latimer – Durable Carbon Filament for Electric Lightbulbs

After serving in the Union Navy during the Civil War, Hall of Famer Lewis Latimer began working as a self-taught draftsman. He made the drawings for NIHF Inductee Alexander Graham Bell’s first patent application for the telephone. Then, while working for the United States Electric Lighting Co. during the 1880s, he invented a method for producing a more durable carbon filament. This innovation not only made incandescent lighting practical and more affordable for consumers, but also helped to proliferate the use of the incandescent lightbulb across the country.

Frederick McKinley Jones – Mobile Refrigeration

NIHF Inductee Frederick Jones invented the first successful system for mobile refrigeration and in so doing, revolutionized the distribution of food and other perishables. This small unit powered by a four-cylinder engine was used in trucks, railroad cars, ships and planes, enabling the transportation of fresh produce across the country. Together with his business partner Joseph Numero, Jones founded the Thermo King Corp. to produce his mobile refrigeration device. In 1991, he became the first Black American to earn the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

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