Pioneers of Transportation

Edmond Berger

Some historians credit Edmond Berger for inventing the Spark Plug in 1839.

Benjamin Montgomery

Montgomery created a propellor that allowed boats to navigate through shallow water. A patent for the device was denied on June 10, 1858, on the basis that Montgomery was a slave.

Benjamin Boardley (Bradley)

Inventor Benjamin Boardley in 1859 invented the first steam engine for a ship. Bradley was unable to patent his invention under United States law because he was a slave.

Landrow Bell

On May 23, 1871, inventor Landrow Bell patents the Locomotive Smokestack, a device that keeps the exhaust steam from the boiler out of the face and sight of the conductor. It also helped prevent fires caused by flying sparks and cinders.

Frederick Douglass

In 1841, Frederick Douglass and his friend James N. Buffum entered a train car reserved for white passengers in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Jennings Graham

On July 16, 1854, Elizabeth Jennings Graham, a schoolteacher, opted for a bus in New York without the “Colored Persons Allowed” sign; the conductor had her removed.

Charlotte Brown

On April 17, 1863, months after San Francisco’s horse-powered streetcar companies first dispatched their streetcars (with orders to only accept white passengers), African American citizens began to directly challenge this discrimination. On April 17, 1863, Charlotte Brown, a young African American woman, boarded a streetcar and was forced off. 

Kate Brown

On Feb. 8, 1868, Brown pulled out her ticket and prepared to board a train, to return to Washington from Alexandria, Virginia. As she recalls, “the policeman ran up and told me I could not ride in that car ... he said that car was for ladies.” Not deterred, Brown responded: “I bought my ticket to go to Washington in this car..., before I leave this car, I will suffer death.” Reportedly, the police officers employed by the railroad physically ejected Brown from the train, throwing her onto the platform.

Elijah McCoy

McCoy developed a lubricator for steam engines that did not require the train to stop. His automatic lubricator used steam pressure to pump oil wherever it was needed. McCoy received a patent for this invention in 1872. It is alleged that the quality of his devices became so well-known that people buying a piece of machinery would make sure it came with his lubricating system by asking for "the real McCoy.”

Granville T. Woods

In 1887 Woods invented the Induction Telegraph System. This allowed trains to communicate with one another and prevented them from colliding into each other.

Matthew A. Cherry

Cherry prefaced his inventions with a great improvement on the velocipede. A precursor to the modern-day bicycle, this vehicle consisted of a metal seat frame with wheels attached. In May 1888, Cherry received his patent for the tricycle. On Jan. 1, 1895, Cherry received a patent for the streetcar fender.

Ida B. Wells

On May 4, 1884, antilynching activist Ida B. Wells, whiles on the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail, was asked by the conductor to move from her seat in the ladies’ car to the smoking car at the front of the train. she refused to leave her seat that she had paid for as a customer. Wells was then forcefully removed from the train and, when the situation ended, the other passengers — all whites — applauded.

Barbara Pope

In 1906, Pope boarded a train at Union Station in Washington, D.C., headed toward Paeonian Springs, Loudon County, Virginia, to vacation. Pope chose to sit in the main compartment of the train, despite her awareness of Virginia’s Jim Crow laws. As soon as the train crossed over the Potomac River into Virginia, the train conductor asked her to move to the “colored” car, and Pope refused. She was subsequently arrested and fined.

Congressman Arthur Wergs Mitchell

On April 21, 1937, Illinois congressman Arthur Wergs Mitchell, was told to move to the section of the train designated for African American passengers, in accordance with the Arkansas Separate Coach Law of 1891. Under threat of arrest, Mitchell moved to the designated area and filed a lawsuit once he returned to Illinois.

Phillip B. Downing

On June 17, 1890, the U.S. Patent Office approved Downing’s application for “new and useful Improvements in Street-Railway Switches.” His invention allowed the switches to be opened or closed by using a brass arm next to the brake handle on the platform of the car.

Elbert R. Robinson

On Sept. 19, 1893, Elbert R. Robinson received a patent for the electric highway trolley. His invention used a new design to secure wheels to the wire when the trolley rounded curves or went down hills.

Charles B. Brooks

In 1896, Charles Brooks, received a patent for the first self-propelled street sweepers. His design utilized a truck-like frame with revolving brushes that pushed waste into a bin. The brushes could be exchanged with scrapers for snow removal, and he received a patent for his invention in 1896.

Jackie Robinson

On July 6, 1944, U.S. Army Lieutenant Jackie Robinson, while stationed at Camp Hood near Waco, Texas, was instructed to move to a seat farther back from the one where he sat next to a fellow officer’s light-skinned wife. Robinson refused, suggesting that the driver tend to driving instead. Robinson was court-martialed for his refusal to move. Ultimately, the court acquitted Robinson of all charges.

Irene Morgan

On July 16, 1944, 27-year-old Irene Morgan refused to yield her seat to a white passenger on a crowded Greyhound bus in Gloucester County, Virginia. Morgan was arrested in violation of Virginia Jim Crow laws that mandated racially segregated seating on public conveyances.

Sarah Louise Keys

On Aug. 1, 1952, Women’s Army Corps Pfc. Sarah Louise Keys traveled from Fort Dix, New Jersey, to her family’s home in Washington, North Carolina. During a stop to change drivers, she was told to relinquish her seat to a white Marine and move to the back of the bus. Keys refused to move, she was arrested and spent 13 hours in a cell and ordered to pay a $25 fine.

Andrew Jackson Beard 

After losing a leg doing his job of linking railroad carts, Beard invented the Jenny Coupler in 1897. It automatically linked carts without the need for a worker to do so.

Garrett Augustus Morgan

After witnessing a death in an accident between a horse- drawn trolley and a car, Morgan created the traffic signal. The traffic signal was patented in 1923.

David Baker

On Dec. 10, 1924, Baker was granted a patent for an inter-liner. The inter-liner provided resilient tread armor to protect the outer periphery of a tire tube from radial puncture.

Samuel Moore

Samuel Moore patented the self-directing headlight in 1926; the vehicle-headlight mechanism in 1928; and the fuel-valve lock for motor vehicles in 1935.

Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Mary Louis Smith, and Rosa Parks

Claudette Colvin (pictured), Aurellia Browder, Mary Louis Smith, and Rosa Parks, in 1955, all refused to relinquish their seats for a white passenger. They were all arrested and charged. 

Frederick McKinley Jones 

In 1938, Jones designed and patented a portable cooling unit for trucks. The first automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks and railroad cars 1935. It was a roof-mounted cooling device that eliminated the risk of food spoilage during long-distance shipping trips.

93rd, 95th, and 97th Engineer Regiments

Three black regiments helped build the 1,600-mile Alaskan Highway through Canada to Alaska in seven months between April 11, 1942, and Nov. 20, 1942. They contributed to the nation’s mobilization and defense by linking the continental U.S. to Alaska.

Meredith Gourdine 

A pioneer in the field of electrogas dynamics, Gourdine invented an engineering technique known as Incineraid to disperse smoke from buildings; it was later adapted to disperse fog from airports. Gourdine invented the exhaust purification system for automobiles in 1967, now known as the Catalytic Converter.