Jennings' skills were so admired that people near and far came to him to alter or custom tailor items of clothing for them. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you. The current picture is also not of Thomas Jennings, it is of Garett Morgan, inventor of the gas mask/smoke hood and some hair care products who was born more than 20 years after Jennings died. Thomas L. Jennings (January 1, 1791 - February 13, 1856) was an African-American inventor, tradesman, entrepreneur, and abolitionist in New York City, New York. In 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart ditched a fancy dinner in Washington, D.C., and hopped into an Eastern Air Transport Curtis Condor for a quick trip to Baltimore and back, according to The Baltimore Sun. His dry scouring process was a predecessor to today's dry cleaning methods. Odd mistake. His all-time winnings are $4,938,436 and Jennings' are $4,370,700. Jennings found that many of his customers were unhappy when their clothing became soiled. Thomas, who earlier this month was named senior vice president for global sales, sees the A.I. Many Animals, Including the Platypus, Lost Their Stomachs. Here are some facts you should know about the pioneering reporter. Elizabeth Jennings first developed a love for writing in university. From the solar system to the world economy to educational games, Fact Monster has the info kids are seeking. Jennings is not one of them. At age 10, he accompanied the Madisons to Washington after James was elected president. Read more, Follow the history of Black Americans from slave ships to the presidency. Credits: Unsplash. Since 1986, the proportion of female graduates has increased 53%, and the proportion of male graduates has declined 39%. Sandbox Learning is part of Sandbox & Co., a digital learning company. He started his career as a tailor and eventually opened one of New Yorks leading clothing shops. Garth Jennings is an English film producer, screenwriter, film director, and actor. On Sunday, July 16, 1854, Elizabeth Jennings set off for the First Colored Congregational Church, where she was an organist. After that, most of his income went to his abolitionist activities. - WTF Fun Facts Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_L._Jennings Share this: Twitter He has the distinction of being the first African-American patent-holder in history; he was granted the patent in 1821 for his novel method of dry cleaning. Some black inventors hid their race to avoid discrimination, even though the language of patent law was officially color-blind. It was in 1890 that William Jennings Bryan formally started his political career. Read more, Read about the great African Americans who fought in wars. He secured a patent for his dry scouring method of removing dirt and grease from clothing in 1821, when he was 29 years old. If you cannot remember your login information, click the Forgot Password link to reset your password. The next time you pick up your clothes at the dry cleaner, send a thank you to the memory of Thomas Jennings. Ida Bell Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862one year into the . Did an Ancient Magnetic Field Reversal Cause Chaos for Life on Earth 42,000 Years Ago? All Rights Reserved. Born in 1791, he grew up as a free man in New York and married a woman named Elizabeth. However, Jennings was born free, so he could get a patent. His patent made him a fortune for the time. Jennings skills were so admired that people near and far came to him to alter or custom-tailor items of clothing for them. If the legal system was biased against black inventors, they wouldnt have been able to defend their patents, she says. In 1821, an African American business owner named Thomas Jennings invented the dry cleaning process and was one of the first African Americans to be granted a patent. 24 2017, Updated 8:35 a.m. This is a method for cleaning clothes that paved modern-day dry cleaning. The variety and impressive numbers of mammals, birds and marine wildlife in Alaska draw visitors from all over the world. This is a picture of Paul Bogle, Jamaican national hero. Read more, Meet the people who worked to change the system from the inside. Jennings is thought to be the first African American ever to receive a U.S. patent. Marketplace is a division of MPR's 501 (c)(3). Jennings was able to do this because he was born free in New York City. When she refused, the conductor tried to remove her by force. In 2004, Ken Jennings ended his legendary 74-game run with total earnings of over $2.5 million. Mar. In 1854, Graham insisted on her right to ride on an available New York City streetcar at a time when all such companies were private and most operated segregated cars. While most African Americans were part of the hardworking labor forces in agriculture and industry, a small percentage were hard at work creating inventions that helped transform America. Eventually, with the aid of a police officer, Miss Jennings was ejected from the streetcar. Later, he opened what would become a large and successful clothing shop in Lower Manhattan. Educate, entertain, and engage with Factmonster. Jennings received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Durham University shortly before her death. Read More & Source. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. All Rights Reserved. Jazz Jennings is an activist for LGBTQ rights, a YouTuber and television personality. 2022 Sandbox Networks Inc. All rights reserved. Sally Hemings (1773-1835) was an enslaved woman owned by Founding Father Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). Thomas Jennings died in New York City in 1856. WTF Fun Fact - Thomas Jennings February 11, 2020 In 1821, an African American business owner named Thomas Jennings invented the dry cleaning process and was one of the first African Americans to be granted a patent. Thomas L. Jennings was the first black man to receive a patent. She resisted. The patent was awarded on March 3, 1821 (US Patent 3306x) for his discovery of a process called dry-scouring which was the forerunner of today's modern dry-cleaning. Read more, Olympic winners, MVPS of every sport, and people who broke the color barrier. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. He would go on to found or support a number of charities and legal aid societies, as well as Freedoms Journal, the first black-owned newspaper in America, and the influential Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Others had their earnings exploited. Thomas and Frances lived at the stables through the births of their first three children. Your Privacy Rights Jennings' skills along with a patent granted by the state of New York on March 3 1821 for a dry-cleaning process called dry scouring . There is a well-documented trend of growth among black or African American female medical school graduates. The patent was awarded on March 3, 1821 (US Patent 3306x) for his discovery of a process called dry-scouring which was the forerunner of today's modern dry-cleaning. While there were, apparently, provisions through which a slave could enjoy patent protection, the ability of a slave to seek out, receive and defend a patent was unlikely. Jennings spent the first money he earned from his patent on legal fees to buy his family out of enslavement. Thomas Jennings earned a large amount of money as a tailor and even more with his dry scouring invention and most of the money he earned went to his abolitionist activities. Thomas Jennings was a pioneer in the dry cleaning industry and among several other inventors. The conductor undertook to get her off, first alleging the car was full; when that was shown to be false, he pretended the other passengers were displeased at her presence; but (when) she insisted on her rights, he took hold of her by force to expel her. Along with James McCune Smith and Rev. Jefferson needed the cash to pay off debts, but he started buying more books. William Jennings Bryan was born on March 19, 1860, in Salem, Illinois. Thomas Jennings, however, was a free man and thus was able to gain exclusive rights to his invention and profit from it. Awarded National Inventors Hall of Fame . James E. Jennings was a public school teacher and musician. Much of his apparently substantial earnings from the invention went towards the fight for abolition. Jenningss work even caught the attention of Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist hero. Slavery, at this time, wasnt even fully abolished in New York state. "He is the earliest that we have recorded," says Pat Sluby, a retired U.S. patent examiner and the author of ". 10 Important Black Inventors in U.S. History, Famous Black Inventors of the 19th- and Early 20th-Centuries, Biography of John Stanard, Inventor of a Better Refrigerator, Biography of Nathaniel Alexander, Inventor of a Folding Chair, Biography of Garrett Morgan, Inventor of the Gas Mask, Biography of Elijah McCoy, American Inventor, Notable African American Patent Holders With Surnames of O, P, Q, R, Biography of Patricia Bath, American Doctor and Inventor, Biography of Eli Whitney, Inventor of the Cotton Gin, Biography of Lewis Latimer, Noted Black Inventor, Elias Howe: Inventor of the Lock Stitch Sewing Machine, Black History Month - African American Patent Holders - B. Its likely that some slave owners secretly patented their slaves inventions, Frye writes. Cookie Policy Thomas L. Jennings was the first Black person to ever receive a patent in the United States. All Rights Reserved. Where else can you see polar bears, bald eagles, blue and humpbacked whales, gray wolves, grizzly bears, orcas, lynx, moose, and hundreds of other rare and endangered species in their original and undisturbed natural habitats? 'A Way of Looking'was published in 1955 and won the Somerset Maugham award. Answer: They enable us to grasp objects. Elizabeth Jennings filed a lawsuit in the Brooklyn Court against the driver, the conductor, and the Third Avenue Railroad Company. Earhart, who was wearing a white silk gown, piloted the plane for most of the flight. Jennings invented a process called dry scouring, a forerunner of modern dry cleaning. A quick look with some important facts of our 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson. Bryan won the election and became a democratic candidate in the U.S. House of Representatives in the year 1890. His daughter Elizabeth, a schoolteacher, rose to national attention in 1854 when she boarded a whites-only horse-drawn streetcar in New York and refused to get off, hanging on to the window frame when the conductor tried to toss her out. As of 2004, about 2,800 of the X-patents have been recovered. Eventually, Jennings reputation grew such that he was able to open his own store on Church street which grew into one of the largest clothing stores in New York City. The patent was awarded on March 3, 1821 (US Patent 3306x) for his discovery of a process called dry-scouring which was the forerunner of today's modern dry-cleaning. He was a free black who operated a dry-cleaning business in New York City New York and was the first African American to be granted a patent. At least two slave owners applied for patents for their slaves inventions, but were denied because no one could take the patent oaththe enslaved inventor was not eligible to hold a patent, and the owner was not the inventor. Biographies of Presidents, Athletes, Artists, & more. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. But by then, Jennings' process of using solvents to clean clothes was well-known and widely heralded. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you. After his daughter, Elizabeth Jennings, was forcibly removed from a "whites only" New York City streetcar in 1854, he organized a movement against racial segregation in public transit in the city. Essentially, he improved dry cleaning with a method called scouring. Jenningsreceived his patent in 1821, and made history in the process. The patent is one of the so-called X-patents, a group of 10,000 or so patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office between its creation in 1790 and 1836, when a fire began in Washingtons Blodget's Hotel, where the patents were being temporarily stored while a new facility was being built. At that time, patenting was seen to be a God-given ability. The regulation was based on the legal presumption that the master is the owner of the fruits of the labor of the slave both manual and intellectual. Patent courts also held that slaves were not citizens and therefore could not own rights to their inventions. Located in Citrus County Florida, Michael Arnold is a the editor at the Citrus County Chronicle. Your Password the language of patent law was officially color-blind editor at dry... Of Looking & # x27 ; was published in 1955 and won the election and a. Receive a patent not remember your login information, click the Forgot link! The stables through the births of their first three children exclusive rights to their inventions earlier... And widely heralded the Brooklyn Court against the driver, the proportion of female has! That paved modern-day dry cleaning with a method for cleaning clothes that paved modern-day cleaning! 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