"I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions." ~ Proverbs 8:12

As Black History Month comes to a close, I wanted to highlight some historical figures whose inventions and innovations continue to have a significant impact on our lives today. They also reflect how God's inventive and entrepreneurial characteristics are displayed in His children - whether they acknowledge Him or not. Many of these creative geniuses are well known, but there are plenty others who are not household names that have made extraordinary contributions to our society. (This list of black American inventors was sourced from http://bit.ly/yBRt7X.)

ELIJAH McCOY (1843-1929)
A love of machines and tools led to a lifetime career and the awarding of 57 patents to Elijah Mc Coy, son of former slaves who had fled from Kentucky to Canada in search of freedom. Until Mc Coy developed a device, which made possible the automatic oiling of machinery used in manufacturing, companies using such machines had to stop the machines before oiling them. Oiling of machinery reduces the wear and tear of friction. So popular did Mc Coy's invention become that person inspecting new equipment generally asked if it contained the "real Mc Coy," meaning Mc Coy's oiling device. Today, "real Mc Coy" is an expression is in the American language meaning the "real thing.' In all, Mc Coy invented 23 oiling devices as well as many other useful inventions. He finally set up his own manufacturing company to develop and sell his many inventions.

GARRETT A. MORGAN (1875-1963)
Garrett A. Morgan was a prize-winning inventor who developed a safety helmet-breathing device widely used by firemen in many American cities in the early 1900's. His invention became popular after he and his brother used it to rescue over two-dozen men who were trapped under Lake Erie, at Cleveland, Ohio, when an explosion occurred in a tunnel, which was under construction. He was awarded a hold medal by the City of Cleveland for his heroic rescue. He later received a gold medal at the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation, in New York, in 1914. Morgan is best remembered for his invention of the automatic stop sign. This invention, now called the traffic or "stop light" controls the flow of vehicles through street intersections.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER (1864-1943)
Probably the best-known African American scientist and inventor is George Washington Carver, who alone, nearly revolutionized agriculture in the South. At a time when the South's major crop-cotton-was faced with total destruction by the boll weevil beetle, Dr. Carver, through scientific experiments showed the South that peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes (yams), among other crops, should be planted, along with cotton. Thus, if on crop failed, there would be others from which farmers could make money. Known as "The Wizard of Tuskegee," Dr. carver developed hundreds of products from the peanut, the soybean, the pecan nut, the sweet potato, and even the weeds. Today, there are many schools and other institutions named in memory of Dr. Carver.

DANIEL H. WILLIAMS (1858-1931)
Founder of a hospital which still exists in Chicago, medical physician Dr, Daniel H. Williams is credited with having performed the first "open-heart" surgery July 9, 1893, long before this kind of surgery was developed. Dr. Williams saved the life of a knifing victim by "sewing up his heart." Working in a makeshift operating room too small for the six-man operating team which helped him, he opened the patient's chest, exposed the beating heart, and stitched the knife wound a fraction of an inch from the heart without the aid of X-rays, blood transfusions or modern "miracle drugs." On August 2, Dr. Williams operated again to remove some fluid from the chest cavity. On August 30, the patient walked out of the hospital, and was known to be alive and well 20 years later.