Black History Quotes

 

Black History” Oliver Lewis”

 In 1875,Oliver Lewis became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, America’s longest continuous sporting event. Lewis was born in 1856 in Fayette Country, Kentucky, to his parents Goodson and Eleanor Lewis. Lewis was born free, but there is little known about his parents or family.Lewis was only 19 years old when he entered the first Kentucky Derby. The race was held at what was then the Louisville Jockey Club on May 17, 1875, but is now known as Churchill Downs. Ten thousand spectators watched this first race. Lewis rode a horse named Aristide, which was one of two colts entered by their owner, H. Price McGrath of Jessamine, Kentucky. The other horse, Chesapeake, was ridden by William Henry. Although the same owner entered both horses, Chesapeake was favored to win the $2,850 purse, and Lewis was told that his job was to lead most of the race to tire out the other horses.

 Out of the fifteen jockeys in the field, at this first Kentucky Derby, thirteen of them were African American. Aristide’s trainer, Ansel Williamson, was also an African American.Oliver Lewis followed his instructions and was pushing most of the field while trailing a horse named Volcano for most of the race. However, in the last stretch, Chesapeake was unexpectedly far back in the pack while Aristide and Volcano were running neck and neck for first place. Lewis and Aristide pulled away near the finish line and won the race by two lengths. With that victory Lewis became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. Later that season, Lewis came in second in the Belmont Stakes in New York and won three more races at the Louisville Jockey Club, riding Aristide in all of them. 

He would never ride in the Kentucky Derby again, however, and would retire after that racing season for unknown reasons.

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Black History”Fun Fact🫶🏾”

 In 1937 the first triplets born in Longview, Texas were born to Neater and Lillie Mae Jones. Dr. James D. Grant, the only Longview African American physician in 1930,(in the muddle).

Franklin 1937-1990; Delano 1937-2017; and Roosevelt 1937-2024.

Source: Portal to Texas History

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Black History “Joan Dorsey”

 In 1963,Joan Dorsey broke barriers as American Airlines' first African American hire. After earning an education degree from the University of Arizona, she excelled at Stewardess College, graduating at the top of her class. Dorsey began her pioneering career in New York and retired from American Airlines in 1999 after 36 years of dedicated service.

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Black History Quotes

 

Black History” Mary Elliott Hill”

 (January 5, 1907 – February 12, 1969) was one of the earliest Black American women to become a chemist. She was known as both an organic and analytical chemist. 

Hill worked on the properties of ultraviolet light, developing analytic methodology, and, in collaboration with her husband Carl McClellan Hill, developing ketene synthesis which supported the development of plastics. She is believed to be one of the first Black American women to be awarded with a master's degree in chemistry. 

Hill was an analytical chemist, designing spectroscopic methods and developing ways to track the progress of the reactions based on solubility. 

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Black History” Engine Company #21”

This is another amazing memory of growing up in Chi’Town was catching the CTA and L Train to the Beverly Public Library off of 95th for their Black History Month events. This is where I first heard about this revolutionary moment in Black History🤟🏾!

The Engine Company #21,organized in 1872, was the first all-black fire Chicago Fire Department. The fire pole was invented by members of the company in 1888. 

After their invention Engine Company #21 had the fastest response time in the city!!! However the iconic sliding pole started out as wood,but that design was discontinued because of splinters,later Boston patented the brass fire pole.

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Black History” June Bacon-Bercey”

The 1st African American Woman To Become A TV Meteorologist. ☀️🌧❄️⛈💨🌪was June Bacon-Bercey!!! In 1955, June Bacon-Bercey became the first African-American woman to receive a degree in meteorology,she went on to become America’s first female TV meteorologist and the first woman and African-American to be awarded the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) Seal of Approval for excellence in television weather-casting. 

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Black History “ Saint Elmo Brady”

 Saint Elmo Brady was the first African American to obtain a Ph.D. degree in chemistry in the United States

Brady received his bachelor''s degree from Fisk University in 1908 at the age of 24, and immediately began teaching at Tuskegee Institute. Brady had a close relationship with and was mentored by Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. In 1912, after his time at Tuskegee University, he was offered a scholarship to the University of Illinois to engage in graduate studies. Saint Elmo Brady was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Brady was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States, which he received from the University of Illinois in 1916.

During his time at Illinois, Brady became the first African American admitted to the university''s chemical honor society, Phi Lambda Upsilon, (1914), and he was one of the first African Americans to be inducted into Sigma Xi, the science honorary society (1915).

After completing his graduate studies, Brady taught at Tuskegee University from 1916 to 1920. Brady accepted a teaching position at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1920 and eventually became the Chair of Howard University''s Chemistry Department.

In 1927 he moved to Fisk University to chair the school''s Chemistry department. He remained at Fisk for 25 years until his retirement in 1952. While serving as the chair for the Chemistry department at Fisk University, Brady founded the first ever graduate studies program at a Black College/University. After his retirement from Fisk, he taught at Tougaloo College

Brady''s legacy was his establishment of strong undergraduate curricula, graduate programs, and fundraising development for four HBCUS. In conjunction with faculty from the University of Illinois, he established a summer program in infrared spectroscopy, which was open to faculty from all colleges and universities.

Talley-Brady Hall on the Fisk campus is named for Brady and another Fisk alumnus,Thomas Talley

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Black History Mary Wallace”

 This one was definitely exciting to write up,especially growing up in Chicago. I went to a private school so we had to take 3 CTA buses there and back to get home. I remembered hearing about this amazing woman but never had the opportunity to ride on her bus. However I’m so thankful for trailblazers  like her that paved the way for little black girls like me to be able to believe the sky was the limit,and I could do absolutely ANYTHING I wanted,regardless of the nah sayers✊🏾!!

In 1974,Englewood native,Mary Wallace,drove into history when she became the first woman to drive a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus. Wallace was a popular driver who remained on the job for 33 years before retiring. 

“I used to work for the Planning and Placement Center when I was going to college,and we had job orders for the CTA bus drivers. So I decided I wanted to check this out myself,and I did. I went for three years,and they kept saying no. People kept the wisecracks about female drivers to themselves, but Mary remembers the mixed reactions she used to get from the CTA riders on her bus routes when they noticed a woman driving. I would get cheers from the ladies and stares from the guys! 

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Black History Quotes🤟🏾

 

Black History Quotes🫶🏾

 

Black History “Dr. Mae Jemison”

 Fun Black History fact….

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Black History “ Henry “Box” Brown”

 By any means necessary!!! In 1849,to escape 33 years of his life as a slave, Henry “Box” Brown shipped himself in a cargo box from Richmond, Virginia, to the abolitionist zone in Philadelphia. Henry Brown completed the 350-mile journey, barely breathing through the air holes he pierced in his 60-centimeter-wide cargo box, and spent the remaining 50 years of his life as a free person. 

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Black History “ Alfred Cralle”

 Did you know?!? 

February 2, 1897: Alfred Cralle was granted a U.S. patent for his invention of an ice cream mold and disher.. His functional design is reflected in modern ice cream scoops.

Alfred L. Cralle was a businessman and inventor. Cralle worked with his father in the carpentry trade as a young man and became interested in mechanics. He was sent to Washington, D.C. where he attended Wayland Seminary, one of a number of schools founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to help educate African-Americans after the Civil War.

Alfred Cralle settled in Pittsburgh where he served as a porter in Markell Brothers’ drug store and the St. Charles Hotel. While working as a porter, he noticed that ice cream, which had become a very popular, was difficult to dispense. It tended to stick to spoons and ladles, usually requiring use of two hands and at least two implements to serve.

INVENTION:

Cralle invented a mechanical device now known as the ice cream scoop and applied for a patent. His invention, originally called an “Ice Cream Mold and Disher” was designed to be able to keep ice cream and other foods from sticking, and easy to operate with one hand.

He designed it to be strong and durable, effective, inexpensive, so it could be constructed in almost any desired shape, such as a cone or a mound, with no delicate parts that could break or malfunction.

On June 10 1896, Alfred applied for a patent on his invention. He was awarded patent #576395 on February 2, 1897. His patent was an ice cream scoop with a built-in scraper to allow for one-handed operation.

LATER IN LIFE:

Cralle become a general manager for the Afro-American Financial, Accumulating, Merchandise and Business association.

Alfred L. Cralle died from tuberculosis on May 6, 1919, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Black History “ The New York Renaissance”

 Did you know!?!

The first all-Black professional basketball team was organized on Feb. 13, 1923.The New York Renaissance, commonly called the Rens, become one of the dominant teams of the 1920s and 1930s. 

The team’s founder was Robert L. Douglas, whose primary objective was to give New York City’s male, Black athletes opportunities to better themselves. In February 1923, Douglas struck an agreement with William Roach, a Harlem-based real estate developer who owned the New Renaissance Ballroom and Casino, and the Rens were born.

With Black players barred from professional basketball leagues, the Rens barnstormed throughout the country, often competing against all-white teams.

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Black History “ Richard B. Spikes”

 In 1932, Richard B. Spikes received a patent for an automatic car gear shift. Big companies welcomed his inventions. Its patent #1889,814. By the time he created the automatic safety brake in 1962, Spikes was losing his vision. To complete the device, he first created a drafting machine for blind designers. The machine would soon be used in almost every school bus nationwide.

These are other inventions by Richard B. Spikes:

railroad semaphore (1906)

automatic car washer (1913)

automobile directional signals (1913)

beer keg tap (1910)

self-locking rack for billiard cues (1910)

continuous contact trolley pole (1919)

combination milk bottle opener and cover (1926)

method and apparatus for obtaining average samples and temperature of tank liquids (1931)

automatic gear shift (1932)

transmission and shifting thereof (1933)

automatic shoe shine chair (1939)

multiple barrel machine gun (1940)

horizontally swinging barber chair (1950)

automatic safety brake (1962) #WeAreHistory 

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Black History “Sarah Boone”

 Black History 365🫶🏾….Sarah Boone was an African American inventor born (1832-1904) 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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Black History “ the Mental Calculator”

 Black History Facts🫶🏾

December 29, 1790 marks the death of the famous mathematician Thomas Fuller, known as the “Mental Calculator”. Thomas Fuller was an African slave known for his skills in mathematics. He was captured in Africa by white slaves and shipped to the USA in 1724 when he was only 14.

He was so good at math, he could do unimaginable calculations. One day when they asked him how many seconds there were in a year and a half, he answered in approximately two minutes, 47304000. Pro-abolitionists and white philanthropists used his talent as proof that Black slaves were equal to Whites in intelligence. Thomas Fuller, was a very great Mathematician, but unfortunately forgotten about history. 

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Black History Month 2025!

 Shalom,

I pray this post finds all is well. This year I’ve decided to bring back our Black History Month daily post(lol yeah I’ve gotten a late start here😅,but I’m on it on social media)! So today to start us off I’m sharing the amazing Richard H. Williams. 

We Are History 365🤟🏾!!!

Although humans have been developing ways to carry their young for thousands of years, the first baby carriage was invented in 1733 by William Kent for the Duke of Devonshire. As something made for a duke’s child is expected to be, it was extremely lavish and gilded with gold and silver and designed to be pulled by a miniature pony. 

Due to the expensive price tag on early strollers, few could afford them. However, William H. Richardson from Baltimore Maryland in 1889 patented a new type of baby carriage. His idea was to use a special joint to allow a bassinet to be turned to face the operator. 

Several changes were made that allowed his carriage for the wheel to turn individually, which meant that the vehicle could turn 360 degrees in a smaller turning radius. Due to this new design and affordability,stroller’s became more widely used. 

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