Black invention myths

Black invention myths
Perhaps you've heard the claims: Were it not for the genius and energy of African-American inventors, we might find ourselves in a world without traffic lights, peanut butter, blood banks, light bulb filaments, and a vast number of other things we now take for granted but could hardly imagine life without.

Such beliefs usually originate in books or articles about black history. Since many of the authors have little interest in the history of technology outside of advertising black contributions to it, their stories tend to be fraught with misunderstandings, wishful thinking, or fanciful embellishments with no historical basis. The lack of historical perspective leads to extravagant overestimations of originality and importance: sometimes a slightly modified version of a pre-existing piece of technology is mistaken for the first invention of its type; sometimes a patent or innovation with little or no lasting value is portrayed as a major advance, even if there's no real evidence it was ever used.

Unfortunately, some of the errors and exaggerations have acquired an illusion of credibility by repetition in mainstream outlets, especially during Black History Month (see examples for the traffic light and ironing board). When myths go unchallenged for too long, they begin to eclipse the truth. Thus I decided to put some records straight. Although this page does not cover every dubious invention claim floating around out there, it should at least serve as a warning never to take any such claim for granted.

Each item below is listed with its supposed black originator beneath it along with the year it was supposedly invented, followed by something about the real origin of the invention or at least an earlier instance of it.

You will have to go to Black invention myths [ broken link but try http://www.toqonline.com/blog/black-invention-myths/ ] to see them but they are there, lots of them.

 

Black Invention Myths [ 15 February 2017 ]
QUOTE
February is officially “Black History Month” in America, Britain, and Canada, and it is now commonplace during this month to recycle stories about past “great black civilizations” and “black inventions”—except, as demonstrated below, these claims are all mythical. The most widely heard claim of a great “past black civilization” is that of ancient Egypt, because of the existence of a number of black, or “Nubian,” pharaohs....................

It is not only in ancient history where these “black history” myths are propagated. Every February, the public is treated to a large number of claims about “black inventions” as well. The most prominent of these claims are briefly discussed hereunder.

Myth 1: Filament for light bulb.
The claim: Lewis Latimer invented the carbon filament in 1881 or 1882.

The truth: English chemist/physicist Joseph Swan experimented with a carbon-filament incandescent light in 1860, and by 1878 had developed a better design which he patented in Britain.....................

There are many more such examples, but the topic would become tedious.

It is furthermore unlikely for Africa to have produced any inventions or advances at all, given that the average sub-Saharan African IQ ranges between 60 and 80. According to the internationally-accepted Sanford Binet intelligence scale, an IQ of 80 to 89 is regarded as “dull.”........ To believe that a people who, only 170 years ago, did not have the wheel, could produce ancient civilizations and invent modern machinery, beggars belief.
UNQUOTE
The truth is what it is. The Establishment, the Main Stream Media & Education industry are in the business of perverting it.