If I asked you to name five famous Black people, living or deceased, who would you come up with? I asked this same question in an interactive presentation I gave four years ago for Black History Month, and the responses were what I expected.

Most people mentioned performers like Ray Charles, athletes like Michael Jordan, and activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This is because the media tends to spotlight African Americans when they are in an entertainment role, and our education system has a pattern of teaching us about the same handful of Black champions for social justice.

Of course, Black contributions to arts and culture and social justice are wonderful. But when the only positive images shown of Black people are of us performing for a crowd or working to bring about equality, it’s easy to think that that’s all we’ve done and mistakenly believe that we haven’t contributed anything else worthwhile to civilization. But the reality is that people of African descent have contributed so much to life as we know it and created many of our modern conveniences — and those stories need to be told too.

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There is also a spiritual basis for learning this history. In the holy writings of the Baha’i Faith, Black people are compared to “the pupil of the eye which is dark in colour, yet it is the fount of light and the revealer of the contingent world.”

Of this comparison, Abdu’l-Baha, one of the central figures of the Baha’i Faith, wrote in 1902:

…Verily, the faces of these are as the pupil of the eye. Although the pupil is created black, yet it is the source of light. I hope God will make these black ones the glory of the white ones, and as a depository of the lights of the Love of God.

With that in mind, here are nine of the numerous African American inventors who changed the world:

1. Garrett Morgan: The Inventor of the Three-Light Traffic Light

Abdu’l-Baha once wrote:

See how, in this day, the scope of sciences and arts hath widened out, and what wondrous technical advances have been made, and to what a high degree the mind’s powers have increased, and what stupendous inventions have appeared.

That quote comes to mind when I think of Garrett Morgan. He only had an elementary school education, and yet, he created several inventions, such as the gas mask and the improved sewing machine.

After these inventions became very successful, Morgan was able to save enough money to purchase a car and was the first Black person in Cleveland to own an automobile. While driving, Morgan witnessed a severe car accident at an intersection and invented the “yield” component of the traffic light in 1923 to warn drivers when they should start slowing down to a stop. His life-saving invention could definitely be described as “stupendous.”

2. Benjamin Banneker: The Inventor of the Clock

We might not be able to tell time if Benjamin Banneker hadn’t invented the clock. When Banneker was 22 in 1753, he had only seen “two timepieces in his lifetime — a sundial and a pocket watch,” according to PBS.

So, Banneker, who was largely self-taught, created the first clock in the United States, which he built out of wood based on his drawings and calculations. PBS wrote, “The clock continued to run until it was destroyed in a fire forty years later.”

Banneker, who was a talented astronomer, also created one of the U.S.’s first almanacs. In his almanac, he successfully predicted eclipses and other astronomical events, listed the tides, and included information on medicines and medical treatments.

3. Lewis Latimer: The Inventor of the Carbon Light Bulb Filament

The Baha’i writings tell us that the “light of the intellect is the highest light that exists.” But we might still be trying to gain knowledge by candlelight if Lewis Latimer hadn’t invented the carbon filament in 1881.

Often when people think of the invention of the light bulb, they think of Thomas Edison. But the light bulb that Edison created had a very short lifespan and died after a few days.

When Latimer, the son of formerly enslaved people, invented the carbon filament, light bulbs became more practical and long-lasting. His success rivaled Edison’s, and he later went to work with Edison at the Edison Electric Light Company in 1884. Latimer was also known for co-inventing an improved bathroom for railroad trains.

4. Alexander Miles: The Inventor of Automatic Elevator Doors

Before Alexander Miles invented the automatic elevator door in 1887, using an elevator was very dangerous. People had to close the shaft and elevator doors themselves manually, and those who forgot to do so often fell down the elevator shafts to their death or received multiple injuries if they survived. 

After Miles’s daughter fell down an elevator shaft and almost died, he decided that he would make it his mission to develop a solution. He invented a mechanism that automatically opens and closes elevator shaft doors, turning elevators into what we now use today.

5. George T. Sampson: The Inventor of the Clothes Dryer

Can you imagine having to hang clothes outside on a line to dry them? It was very time-consuming, and people had to hope their clothes wouldn’t be ruined by the weather, animals, or insects.

So, every time I do my laundry, I’m grateful that George T. Sampson patented the clothes dryer in 1892 and a sled propeller in 1885.

In his patent, he wrote, “My invention relates to improvements in clothes-driers. The object of my invention is to suspend clothing in close relation to a stove by means of frames so constructed that they can be readily placed in proper position and put aside when not required for use.”

6. Frederick McKinley Jones: The Inventor of Refrigerated Trucks

The Baha’i writings confirm the connection between our physical and spiritual health. Abdu’l-Baha explained:

The more healthful his body, the greater will be the power of the spirit of man; the power of the intellect, the power of the memory, the power of reflection will be greater.

Prior to the invention of refrigerated trucks, keeping food from spoiling — and potentially causing illness — was extremely difficult. Fortunately, Frederick McKinley Jones patented more than 60 inventions in his lifetime, including the cooling system used to refrigerate produce on trucks during extended periods.

He came up with this idea in the 1930s and received a patent for his invention in 1940. He later co-founded the U.S. Thermo Control Company, later known as Thermo King, which was critical in preserving blood, food, and supplies during World War II.

7. Marie Van Brittan Brown: The Inventor of the Home Security System

The Baha’i writings contain more than two dozen prayers for protection — and along with asking God to keep us safe, many of us also turn on a home security system at night. We’re able to do that thanks to Marie Van Brittan Brown. 

As a nurse, Van Brittan Brown often worked long hours and would come home late at night to an empty home because her husband also worked irregular hours as an electronic technician. Scared after being in the house alone at night, Marie decided to develop a solution that would make her home safer.

In 1966, Van Brittan Brown co-invented the first home security system with her husband, Albert Brown. Their security system consisted of four peepholes, a sliding camera that could capture images of people who were different heights, television monitors, two-way microphones that enabled them to communicate with the person outside, a remote to unlock the door, and an emergency alarm button that contacted the police.

8. Charles Richard Drew: The Inventor of Blood Banks

The Baha’i writings tell us that “an able physician does not treat all ailments in the same manner but varies the treatments and remedies in accordance with the requirements of these various ailments and conditions.” Every two seconds in the United States, an “able physician” determines that someone needs a blood transfusion. 

Fortunately, surgeon Charles Richard Drew discovered in 1941 how to do long-term storage of blood plasma, organized the United States’ first large-scale blood bank, and created “bloodmobiles” – refrigerated blood donation trucks.

Born in 1904, Drew’s inventions in preserving blood plasma saved thousands of lives during World War II, and the American Red Cross adopted his process and techniques. Sadly, despite Drew’s remarkable inventions in the blood banking process, the Red Cross excluded African Americans from donating blood, making Drew unable to participate.

9. Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson: The Inventor of the Fiber-Optic Cable

The Universal House of Justice, the democratically elected governing council for the Baha’is of the world, wrote in 2015 that “technological advancement is integral to the emergence of a global civilization.” 

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist and the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate from M.I.T. in 1973, conducted groundbreaking scientific research that laid the foundation for the inventions of the touch-tone telephone, the portable fax machine, call waiting, caller ID, and the fiber-optic cable.

She is currently the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. And just think, without fiber-optic cables, you might not have been able to read this article on the internet. 

That raises the question: Could humanity go one week without these inventions that African Americans brought to the world? Black people have contributed so much in the fields of science, math, and technology — achievements worthy of being honored and celebrated every day.

Just think, Black people were able to accomplish such greatness despite centuries of genocide, slavery, racism, and oppression. Imagine how much more could be achieved if we lived in a world without racism and where Black people experienced the justice, equity, recognition, and appreciation we all deserve.

“My life’s goal as an artist is to unlock the secrets to the oldest stories and create new ones,” wrote Oletha DeVane, a Baha’i multidisciplinary artist.

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Oletha DeVane, the former director of Tuttle Art Gallery, was one of the first African American artists invited to the United Arab Emirates as an Artist-in-Residence. Her work has been featured in numerous museums and galleries and collected by the Hilton Hotel in Baltimore, Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Johns Hopkins University museums, the James E. Lewis Museum of Art, and The Harbor Bank of Maryland. 

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As a big fan of Oletha’s art, I was excited to learn more about the spiritual and historical inspiration behind Oletha’s artwork that honors our enslaved, African, and female ancestors.

Radiance Talley: Hi, Oletha! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Can you share how the Baha’i writings inspire you as an artist? 

Oletha DeVane: The writings revealed the highest level of social consciousness for me when [I was] growing up in the ‘60s. I had learned about the [Baha’i] Faith from our neighbors, Albert and Ruth James. I wanted to become a Baha’i at 13 years old, the year the four Black girls were killed at the 16th Street Baptist Church. The country was steeped in hatred, and the meetings in the James’s home were a revelation about oneness and equality that was spiritually and conceptually important for me at the time. I felt safe in a community of people that embraced me as a child. The first two [quotes by Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, in The] Hidden Words are my favorite:

O SON OF SPIRIT!
My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting. 

O SON OF SPIRIT!
The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.

All [The Hidden Words] pointed to what was needed to make social change. The writings are so metaphorically and symbolically poetic with references to light, water, nature, and the micro/macro connection to humanity’s life and the spirit.

Radiance: Can you tell us about your journey as a multidisciplinary artist and how it led you to your current focus on unlocking the secrets of old stories while creating new ones?

Oletha: The journey doesn’t stop. I have many questions and curiosities about other cultures, our society, [our] people, our future, and our practices. The story of humankind is an ancient one, with much of it forgotten or hidden. How can we understand or define what we cannot know except through our five senses and, ultimately, [through] conscious effort to know ourselves [and] gain knowledge? Imagine how we might define what’s unknown. It’s the stories we tell ourselves. 

Abdu’l-Baha [one of the central figures of the Baha’i Faith] wrote:

EXISTENCE is of two kinds: one is the existence of God which is beyond the comprehension of man. He, the invisible, the lofty and the incomprehensible, is preceded by no cause but rather is the Originator of the cause of causes. He, the Ancient, hath had no beginning and is the all-independent. The second kind of existence is the human existence. It is a common existence, comprehensible to the human mind, is not ancient, is dependent and hath a cause to it. The mortal substance does not become eternal and vice versa; the human kind does not become a Creator and vice versa. The transformation of the innate substance is impossible.

In the world of existence—that which is comprehensible—there are stages of mortality: the first stage is the mineral world, next is the vegetable world. In the latter world the mineral doth exist but with a distinctive feature which is the vegetable characteristic. Likewise in the animal world, the mineral and vegetable characteristics are present and in addition the characteristics of the animal world are to be found, which are the faculties of hearing and of sight. In the human world the characteristics of the mineral, vegetable and animal worlds are found and in addition that of the human kind, namely the intellectual characteristic, which discovereth the realities of things and comprehendeth universal principles.”

I believe our responsibility is to encompass and understand our human stories that awaken us to material and spiritual progress. It’s the ancient stories of falls and rises, of war and peace, to grace and love.

Radiance: Can you explain how your art explores diverse social identities and cultural interpretations? How do you integrate these themes into your artistic practice?

Oletha: As a woman of African descent, I look back to my ancestors, the promises of all religions, and the origin of the 19th-century term “race.” Baha’u’llah’s ultimate promise [was] confirmed in His own words: 

The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty.

As a visual artist, I use multiple media (painting, collage, video, public art), which allow me to examine my place in the world by trying to make sense of how we got here at this moment in history. Our collective ignorance is what stagnates societies, and I’m trying to do work that integrates intergenerational stories and histories that shape us. For those ancestors who survived the Middle Passage and enslavement, [those] stories are as relevant as the Holocaust survivors and those who have faced genocides. 

Radiance: Absolutely! My favorite piece of yours is the “Memorial to Those Enslaved and Freed” that you designed for the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland. Can you share the inspiration behind the memorial?

Oletha: The memorial has always been about recognizing and honoring those Black men, women, and children who, through their forced labor, made John McDonogh a wealthy man. It is about the aspiration and the resilience of a people who served in a capacity that made them invisible. Freedom was always the aspiration; they sought their freedom through any means necessary — you worked yourself to death to get free through manumission, or you ran away. From my lens, I am looking at how people were treated, what allowed them to survive, [and] what was the dignity in their lives? 

Radiance: What are your favorite pieces that you’ve created to honor our ancestors? 

Oletha: That’s a difficult question. However, to name a few: the print series of Harriet Tubman, the “Spirit Sculptures,” which are meant to harness blessings, and most recently, the “Universal N’kisi Woman.”

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Radiance: We’d love to learn more about them! Can you walk us through your creative process for these pieces and describe the symbolism that you used?

Oletha: Harriet Tubman is symbolized in my work as the oracle: intelligent, courageous, and a fearless fighter for freedom. Tubman is featured in a series of solar etchings from (2017-19), and I adapted a previously unknown photograph of her (ca.1822-1913) and used it as the basis for the narrative prints. Some of them include the seedpods of the sweet gum tree, which littered the forest floor when she escaped with [her] family from Maryland’s Eastern Shore plantation. The seedpods represent the obstacle to freedom that those enslaved had to walk across barefoot.

There are many “Spirit Sculptures,” but the one acquired by the Baltimore Museum of Art has the most significance to me — “Saint for My City” (2010). It is an avatar disguised as an astral-Black holy figure. The pedestal is embellished with the names of African diasporic deities (Isis, Ogun, Horus, Dumballa, etc). It is a memorial to people killed at the time, represented by bullet casing. The Black saint with outstretched arms channels the spirit of solace to Baltimore and the many Black people undergoing oppression through gun violence. 

“Universal N’kisi Woman” (2021-22) is informed by an evolving worldview of Africa’s influence in the arts. It represents the retention of African belief systems, which are indigenous to the Congo. The N’kisi is a sacred form used in communities to settle disputes [and] provide counseling and advice. The nkisi, or minkisi, is a figure whose relationship to the community is to guide, protect, and dispense healing or justice. I chose to make a female N’kisi for the community to interact with by hammering a bead while engaged in silent prayers, concerns, or healing messages. 

Radiance: What inspired these particular works, and what significance do they hold for you personally or artistically?

Oletha: Religious practices of freed [enslaved people] at the turn of the 19th century attempted to maintain their cultural origin, which today has informed Pan-African identity. Colonization destroyed the agency of African beliefs in the Americas, and the spiritual practices of syncretism retained the cultural Indigenous spirit. It’s what keeps me interested in origin stories, specifically as a Black artist and a Baha’i. 

Radiance: Since March is Women’s History Month, can you explain how your art commemorates and celebrates the vital role of women in our national and global history?

Oletha: Most of my work reflects issues women face from explicit treatment of inequality, sexual exploitation, imprisonment, and endurance. [For example], the biblical story of Hagar metaphorically speaks of the struggle and strength of generations of women who endured injustice. It’s a story that resonated with generations of Black women who suffered injustice, and it’s a story that was told in Black churches across the country about the African woman in the household of [the] prophet Abraham. It prompted me to create the piece entitled “Hagar’s Dress in Her Exile,” made from chains and burlap (2013).

Radiance: In what ways do you see art as a tool for social change and community engagement, particularly concerning the honoring and preservation of diverse ancestries and histories?

Oletha: The Baha’i writings elevate the arts to do just that. Historically, if we look through the ages, art has been a considerable means of communication with the earliest of drawings and sounds. As sentient beings on a spectrum, we want others to experience what we see, feel, and think. Our inherent expressive ability is specifically geared to how we perceive our world and the changes we can make. Think about the art movements over the last 300 years, from the Renaissance to the Bauhaus to African Art to Abstract Expressionists, and so on. These movements all had a major impact on the cultures. Ideas and actions creatively materialize in a society based on its overarching philosophy, and some thoughts are better than others to manifest social change. 

One aspect of the arts is visual, but there is also the written and spoken word, sound, and movement (music and dance), all of which can take on multiple forms and combinations. When we raise the question, can art be a tool for social change? My answer is, yes, it can, but what new ways will we use to connect communities and vigorously educate [people] to understand the historical importance of art to society?

Radiance: Thank you, Oletha, for describing your beautiful artwork and sharing the historical and spiritual inspiration behind your pieces that honor our ancestors. Baha’u’llah wrote that “when it [the Sun of Truth] manifesteth itself in the mirrors of the hearts of craftsmen, it unfoldeth new and unique arts, and when reflected in the hearts of those that apprehend the truth it revealeth wondrous tokens of true knowledge and discloseth the verities of God’s utterance.” I can certainly see this light and spirit reflected in your craft.

You can view Oletha DeVane’s catalog, “Oletha DeVane: Spectrum of Light and Spirit,” at https://cadvc.umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/247/2024/01/Oletha-DeVane-Spectrum-of-light-and-spirit-catalog.pdf. To order, click here: https://www.artbook.com/9780960088546.html.