Black Edison and Why You Have not Heard of Him
After reading Black inventors who have influenced the way we use the internet and technology today, which is about black inventors that have led to the telecommunication that is possible today, I was intrigued by Granville T. Woods story. Mr. Woods was born in 1856 Ohio. He went to school periodically over the course of ten years before dropping out entirely and taking up an apprenticeship in machinery and blacksmithing. Through this, Mr. Woods found a passion for engineering and electricity. By the end of his life, Mr. Woods had 60 patents — one of these in particular was especially influential in the development of current technology.
In 1887, Granville T. Woods invented the induction telegraph. This allowed train conductors and engineers to communicate with voice over telegraph wires which was especially helpful at the time for safety implications. The invention was quite popular with Thomas Edison taking interest in the invention. Thomas Edison established a lawsuit against Mr. Woods where Edison would eventually lose and be turned down as partner to Mr. Woods. Granville T. People would often refer to Mr. Woods as “Black Edison”. Woods also created a telephone transmitter that was eventually bought by Alexander Graham Bell. Despite the success on paper, Granville T. Woods as an African American man born to free parents, experienced racism in every aspect of his life. Never being able to achieve a high position in the jobs he did, Mr. Woods opened up his own shop: Woods Electrical Company.
My initial thoughts were of confusion and a sense of sadness after reading Black inventors who have influenced the way we use the internet and technology today. I think the biggest epiphany I have had is realizing that so many important contributions have been made by different people, yet we are only taught about the contributions that white people have made. Western history really tries to bury the accomplishments and achievements of black and brown people, and even worse — take credit for the achievement. We saw this with Alexander Graham Bell buying Mr. Wood’s telephone transmitter patent. This only makes me wonder how many other achievements and inventions have been swept under the rug by western ideals and standards. With the invention of technology nearly 400 years in the making, it only makes sense that there would be a whole book of diverse people reflective of those who have led to technology today, yet that is not the case.
We can even see this bias within A Brief History of Computing and the Web: From 17th Century Computers to Today’s Digital Empires. In this brief informational web article, I counted 15 names related to the development and formation of certain technologies, yet not a single person was NOT white until I came across Mehran Anvari, a surgeon performing remote surgeries in the last paragraph. I asked my partner if he had ever heard of Granville T. Wood as an established engineer major, and he had not. I think that it is important to give history a long hard look and to start including people in history that have been historically pushed aside, as well as acknowledging the lost and wrong history that has come with that as well.
References:
https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Granville_T._Woods
https://cms7.dot.gov/connections/granville-t-woods-inventor-and-innovator
