This Week In Black History

Week of Dec. 2-8
December 2

1859—John Brown, one of the leading White heroes of Black history, is hanged near Harpers Ferry, Va. He was a tireless crusader against slavery. His activities ranged from working in the secretive “Underground Railroad,” which helped Blacks escape slavery to attacking slave owners who wanted to expand slavery outside of the South. Brown’s frustration, with the slow pace of efforts to abolish slavery, led him to attempt to incite a violent slave revolt which began with a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in October 1859. His group was eventually cornered and he was hanged on this day in 1859.

1884—Granville T. Woods (1856-1910) invents and on this day patents a major improvement to the telephone transmitter. Indeed, it can be reasonably argued that this highly productive African-American inventor actually invented the telephone because his device (called “telegraphony”) was superior to that invented by Alexander Graham Bell. It was so superior, in fact, that the Bell Company purchased it from Woods in part because his telephone was better and in part to prevent Woods from becoming a major competitor. Woods received nearly 50 patents for inventions in the areas of transportation, electricity and communications. He was called “the Black Edison” after Thomas Alva Edison who is generally considered the most productive U.S. inventor. However, Woods and Edison would cross paths when Edison sued him in a dispute over which one first invented the multiplex telegraph. Edison tried to buy Woods off by offering him a prominent position in his company but Woods declined.