The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Colored Inventor, by Henry E. Baker

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Title: The Colored Inventor
A Record of Fifty Years

Author: Henry E. Baker

Release Date: May 3, 2007 [EBook #21281]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The Colored Inventor

A RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS

By HENRY E. BAKER. Assistant Examiner United States Patent Office

[Illustration: HENRY E. BAKER.]

The year 1913 marks the close of the first fifty years since Abraham
Lincoln issued that famous edict known as the emancipation proclamation,
by which physical freedom was vouchsafed to the slaves and the
descendants of slaves in this country. And it would seem entirely fit
and proper that those who were either directly or indirectly benefited
by that proclamation should pause long enough at this period in their
national life to review the past, recount the progress made, and see, if
possible, what of the future is disclosed in the past.

That the colored people in the United States have made substantial
progress in the general spread of intelligence among them, and in
elevating the tone of their moral life; in the acquisition of property;
in the development and support of business enterprises, and in the
professional activities, is a matter of quite common assent by those who
have been at all observant on the subject. This fact is amply shown to
be true by the many universities, colleges and schools organized,
supported and manned by the race, by their attractive homes and cultured
home life, found now in all parts of our country; by the increasing
numbers of those of the race who are successfully engaging in
professional life, and by the gradual advance the race is making toward
business efficiency in many varied lines of business activity.

It is not so apparent, however, to the general public that along the
line of inventions also the colored race has made surprising and
substantial progress; and that it has followed, even if "afar off," the
footsteps of th