Henry Blair, the Second African American to Obtain a Patent

Henry Blair, the Second African American to Obtain a Patent

By Tamara Shiloh The debate over whether enslaved African Americans could receive U.S. Government-issued patents was still unfolding when the second African American to hold a patent, Henry Blair, received his first patent in 1834. The first African American to receive a patent was Thomas Jennings in 1821 for his discovery of a process called