50,000 Patents: The Stolen Innovation of FBA Inventors
Black Americans received approximately 50,000 patents between 1870-1940, and untold innovations were stolen during slavery.
The Post-Emancipation Patent Explosion
According to the Brookings Institution, Black Americans received approximately 50,000 patents between 1870-1940, representing one of the most remarkable innovation surges in history. Northern FBAs achieved patenting rates of 0.31 per 1,000 residents compared to 0.39 for white Americans — a minimal gap despite massive discrimination.
The correlation between FBA patent activity and America's Gilded Age (1870-1900) reveals that FBA innovation was a driving force behind the rapid industrialization that defined this era. FBA innovations directly enabled key Gilded Age industries: railroad safety systems, electrical innovations, agricultural improvements, and manufacturing processes.
Systematic Patent Theft During Slavery
Enslaved persons could not hold patents under federal law until 1865. All inventions by enslaved people legally belonged to their owners. Masters routinely patented enslaved people's innovations under their own names.
Categories of stolen innovation include rice cultivation systems, cotton processing improvements, sugar refining innovations, ironworking and metallurgy advances, and construction methods. Conservative estimates place the value of stolen intellectual property during slavery at $100-200 billion in today's dollars.
Revolutionary Inventions That Changed America
Garrett Morgan's traffic light system (1923) controls every intersection in America. Lewis Latimer's carbon filament improvements (1881) made electric lighting practical. Granville Woods' railway innovations prevented countless train accidents. Dr. Charles Drew's blood plasma research saved thousands of WWII soldiers.
Frederick McKinley Jones' portable refrigeration (1940) created the modern cold-chain supply system. Marie Van Brittan Brown's home security system (1966) became the foundation for all modern security. These 50,000 documented patents represent only a fraction of FBA technological contributions.