Thomas L. Jennings
Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes
Thomas Jennings was the first African American to receive a patent, on March 3, 1821 (U.S. patent3306x). Thomas Jennings’ patent was for a dry-cleaning process called “dry scouring”. The first money Thomas Jennings earned from his patent was spent on the legal fees necessary to liberate his family out of slavery and support the abolitionist cause..
Under the United States patent laws of 1793 and 1836, both slaves and freedman could patent their inventions. However, in 1857, a slave-owner named Oscar Stuart patented a “double cotton scraper” that was invented by his slave. Historical records only show the real inventor’s name as being Ned. Stuart’s reasoning for his actions was that, “the master is the owner of the fruits of the labor of the slave both manual and intellectual”. In 1858, the U.S. patent office changed the patent laws, in response to the Oscar Stuart vs Ned case, in favor of Oscar Stuart. Their reasoning was that slaves were not citizens, and could not be granted patents. But surprising in 1861, the Confederate States of America passed a law granting patent rights to slaves. In 1870, the U.S.government passed a patent law giving all American men including blacks the rights to their inventions.
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Thomas Jennings was born in 1791. He was 30 years old when he was granted a patent for a dry cleaning process. Thomas Jennings was a free tradesman and operated a dry cleaning business in New York City. His income went mostly to his abolitionist activities. In 1831, Thomas Jennings became assistant secretary for the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia, PA.
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Thomas L. Jennings Dry Scouring technique created modern day dry cleaning. His patent made him a fortune for the time. Yep, another Black Man that invented something so next time you get your shirt dry cleaned you can thank another Black Man for inventing the process!
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I didn’t know this at all! Wow! Thanks Freeman for always digging in the crates to find the real people we should celebrate for Black History!
another great find…thanks freeman!
@Nyer – Welcome! Yeah when you do some research past what they taught us K-12 you’ll find out there’s more significant people than Crispus Attucks!
@Keish – You’re Welcome.
I didn’t know that the process of dry cleaning was invented by a black man! How come our teachers never taught us that??
i guess Ignorance is Bliss!
Ignorance is Ignorance and it causes more dissatisfaction than most people know.
They didn’t teach you that because it’s not shiny enough of a topic. I guess Michael Jordan reaches people but his feats are not as significant as Thomas Jennings. Our history is backwards emphasizing entertainers instead of doers!
Keep the education going. I like this a lot. Any day I learned something new is a day well spent.
Well I’m trying to make it Black History Thursdays. Show people we did more than repeat the same folk over and over that make it so boring no one remembers. Just my little angle of taking pride in myself and my race!
I didnt know this WOW! Thanks Freeeman
Yeah, I don’t think too many folks know about this one. Like I said I like looking it up myself for my own reasons might as well put it on here so we can all benefit from it.
Freeman you always pull something out your a** for us to learn from. Keep doing what you’re doing. I might have to print this out and give send it to my local school.
LOL I hope I don’t pull it from there but realistically it’s just something we all should know. We need to increase our knowledge of ourselves one non-cowardice person at a time.