Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation
Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson
Seiten
2005
Johns Hopkins University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8018-8270-8 (ISBN)
Johns Hopkins University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8018-8270-8 (ISBN)
Describes the struggles of three African American men who try to balance racial identity with a desire to be judged solely on the merit of their inventive work. This book provides a nuanced view of African American contributors to technology during a period of rapid industrialization.
According to the stereotype, late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century inventors, quintessential loners and supposed geniuses, worked in splendid isolation and then unveiled their discoveries to a marveling world. Most successful inventors of this era, however, developed their ideas within the framework of industrial organizations that supported them and their experiments. For African American inventors, negotiating these racially stratified professional environments meant not only working on innovative designs but also breaking barriers. In this pathbreaking study, Rayvon Fouche examines the life and work of three African Americans: Granville Woods (1856-1910), an independent inventor; Lewis Latimer (1848-1928), a corporate engineer with General Electric; and Shelby Davidson (1868-1930), who worked in the U.S. Treasury Department. Detailing the difficulties and human frailties that make their achievements all the more impressive, Fouche explains how each man used invention for financial gain, as a claim on entering adversarial environments, and as a means to technical stature in a Jim Crow institutional setting.
Describing how Woods, Latimer, and Davidson struggled to balance their complicated racial identities-as both black and white communities perceived them-with their hopes of being judged solely on the content of their inventive work, Fouche provides a nuanced view of African American contributions to-and relationships with-technology during a period of rapid industrialization and mounting national attention to the inequities of a separate-but-equal social order.
According to the stereotype, late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century inventors, quintessential loners and supposed geniuses, worked in splendid isolation and then unveiled their discoveries to a marveling world. Most successful inventors of this era, however, developed their ideas within the framework of industrial organizations that supported them and their experiments. For African American inventors, negotiating these racially stratified professional environments meant not only working on innovative designs but also breaking barriers. In this pathbreaking study, Rayvon Fouche examines the life and work of three African Americans: Granville Woods (1856-1910), an independent inventor; Lewis Latimer (1848-1928), a corporate engineer with General Electric; and Shelby Davidson (1868-1930), who worked in the U.S. Treasury Department. Detailing the difficulties and human frailties that make their achievements all the more impressive, Fouche explains how each man used invention for financial gain, as a claim on entering adversarial environments, and as a means to technical stature in a Jim Crow institutional setting.
Describing how Woods, Latimer, and Davidson struggled to balance their complicated racial identities-as both black and white communities perceived them-with their hopes of being judged solely on the content of their inventive work, Fouche provides a nuanced view of African American contributions to-and relationships with-technology during a period of rapid industrialization and mounting national attention to the inequities of a separate-but-equal social order.
Rayvon Fouche is an assistant professor in the department of science and technology studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 4.11.2005 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology |
| Zusatzinfo | 33 Illustrations, black and white |
| Verlagsort | Baltimore, MD |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 318 g |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-8018-8270-2 / 0801882702 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-8018-8270-8 / 9780801882708 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
Buch | Softcover (2024)
Lehmanns Media (Verlag)
CHF 27,90
Digitalisierung neu denken für eine gerechte Gesellschaft
Buch | Hardcover (2023)
Quadriga (Verlag)
CHF 27,95
Vom Perceptron zum Deep Learning
Buch | Softcover (2022)
Springer Vieweg (Verlag)
CHF 27,95
