This Women’s History Month, we want to celebrate all the Black women who have helped to shape lives for the better with their innovative minds and tenacity in their respective fields. From the invention of the ironing board to the Black woman who laid the groundwork for what would become downtown Los Angeles, here are some modern-day inventions that we have Black women to thank for.
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Dr. Gladys West: GPS
Dr. Gladys West helped build the foundation for the Global Positioning System. A farm girl from Dinwiddie County, Virginia, West attended Virginia State University on a scholarship, according to The Guardian. Upon graduating, West took a job programming for the United States Navy and worked on an IBM 7030 Stretch computer, which provided quick and accurate calculations for Earth models. It was her expert programming that laid the foundation for the now very handy GPS, per The Guardian.
Marian Croak: Voice Over Internet Protocols
Remote work is becoming increasingly popular, but it would not be possible without Marian Croak. According to Lemelson-MIT, she helped develop the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology that allows for internet-based calls on platforms like Zoom, Google Meet and Skype. Croak developed this technology while working at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where she also helped refine voice and text messaging on cell phones. She’s now Vice President of Engineering at Google, a position she has held for over a decade.
Dr. Shirley Jackson: Caller ID
On the subject of phones, isn’t it nice to know who is calling you rather than being bombarded with random numbers? Working as a physicist at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Shirley Jackson is the woman behind the theoretical physics that would become the cornerstone of caller ID, according to the telecommunications company Somos. Not only was Jackson a pioneer in digital communications, but she was also one of the first African American students to enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the first woman to graduate from the university with a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics, per Somos.
Marie Van Brittan Brown: Home Security System
Nurse Marie Van Brittan Brown, along with her electronics technician husband Albert Brown, patented the first home security system out of a desire to keep her home safe in a high-crime neighborhood, according to Princeton University’s Center on Science and Technology. The system consisted of four peepholes, a sliding camera, television monitors and two-way microphones, complete with an alarm that would immediately alert police to danger, per Lemelson-MIT.
Sarah Boone: Ironing Board
The modern-day ironing board was invented by Sarah Boone, who took the original clunky design and transformed it into a sleek version with curved edges to improve the pressing of sleeves and fitted clothes, according to the Design & Technology Association. Boone received the patent for her invention in 1892.
Alice H. Parker: Central Heating
It has been a very cold winter, and keeping us warm in our homes is Alice H. Parker’s invention: central heating. According to Canary Media, Parker designed a heating furnace, an indoor system that used natural gas, and patented the invention on Dec. 23, 1919. Born in Morristown, New Jersey, in 1895, Parker studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C., according to Lemelson-MIT.
Bridget “Biddy” Mason: Downtown Los Angeles
Born into slavery in Mississippi, Biddy Mason fought her way to freedom when her enslavers moved to California in the 1850s. As a state where slavery was illegal, California granted Mason her freedom, and she went on to become a philanthropist and landowner. She worked as a doctor’s assistant and started a midwife business, which helped her build a wealth of $7.5 million. She invested that wealth in her own plot of land that would become known as downtown Los Angeles, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. She built daycare centers, stores and co-founded the first African Methodist Episcopal church.
Mary Beatrice Davidson-Kenner: Sanitary Belt
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner revolutionized menstrual products in the 1950s by creating a more comfortable and flexible sanitary belt. According to the BBC, her design included an adhesive that allowed pads to be attached and disposed of more quickly. Although she held the patents for her inventions, they were never bought, and she was never paid for her work. Yet, it is thanks to her innovation that we have the more comfortable sanitary pads of today.
Dr. Patricia Bath: Laser Eye Surgery
Cataract removal is much less invasive today because Dr. Patricia Bath invented the Laserphaco Probe. This device uses lasers to remove cataracts, helping people improve their vision and, most times, reducing the need for glasses. Bath first created the device in 1981 before receiving a patent for it in 1988, and by 2000, it was being used globally, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Not only did Bath make cataract removal less invasive and quicker, but she was also the first Black woman physician to receive a medical patent.
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire: Covid Vaccine Technology
In 2020, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire helped lead a team at the National Institutes of Health that developed the mRNA-1273 technology used in COVID-19 vaccines, according to the women’s health publication Healthy Women. She is now an assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Valerie Thomas: Illusion Transmitter
While working as a scientist at NASA, Valerie Thomas created the illusion transmitter, a device that used light and optical reflection to create the illusion of three-dimensional images, according to the publication Black Inventors. Her invention has helped advance 3D visualization, establishing how optical science can be applied to modern visual communication methods, per Black Inventors.
Marilyn Hughes Gaston, M.D.: Sickle Cell Screening For Newborns
Marilyn Hughes Gaston was working as an intern at Philadelphia General Hospital in 1964 when she first admitted a child with sickle cell disease and decided she had to do something about the blood disorder. According to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Gaston secured federal grants to study the disease, became a leading expert on the subject and developed research to provide children with preventative penicillin at birth to help reduce complications. Her work also suggested that newborn screening was necessary for identifying and treating sickle cell disease, a process that is now standard practice.
Tahira Reid Smith: Automated Double Dutch Machine
If you are ever alone and want to play double Dutch, you actually can, because Tahira Reid-Smith created an automated double Dutch jump rope machine. In a 2000 interview with NBC, Reid-Smith stated she created the machine for a college class.
“This was started in a class called Introduction to Engineering Design, and the theme was challenging the limits in sports and recreational activities,” she said. “I remembered this idea I had when I was in third grade, and I was like it would be a good idea to work on it.”
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