Fun Facts About Black History
Hip-Hop Was Born at a Party
On August 11, 1973, a young DJ named Kool Herc attended a party thrown by his younger sister Cindy Campbell to raise funds for school uniforms. Kool Herc, a Jamaican immigrant, brought a new style of DJing to the party. Instead of playing a record straight through, he used two turntables to repeat the break on a loop. This
came to be known as the
"Merry-Go-Round" technique and enabled the dancers, soon to be known as B-Boys and B-Girls, to dance to the extended beat. It is widely referred to as the birthday of hip-hop since it marked the foundation of the origins of DJing, MCing (rapping), breakdancing, and graffiti—the four corners of hip-hop culture.
Garrett Morgan and His Life-Saving Inventions
Garrett Morgan (1877–1963) was a self-taught Black inventor and entrepreneur. He is best known for two of the most influential inventions, The Three-Position Traffic Light (1923) and The Safety Hood (1914). Traffic lights then only had two signals, which often caused accidents. Morgan added a third "caution" position to give drivers time to slow to a stop. He sold his patent to General Electric for $40,000—a huge sum at the time.
The Safety Hood was created to protect against smoke and deadly fumes; it contained a tube system that sucked cleaner air from the bottom of the apparatus. In 1916, Morgan himself utilized his invention to save trapped miners from a tunnel explosion in Cleveland, Ohio. Though his invention was revolutionary, many white consumers did not want to buy his gas masks when they discovered he was Black, so he often had a white partner demonstrate the product. Garrett Morgan's inventions continue to influence public safety technology today.
The First Black Oscar Winner Was Nearly Banned from Attending
Hattie McDaniel took home the Academy Award as the first Black winner for playing the role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1940). The Oscars, however, were still held at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles which enforced a "No Blacks Allowed" policy. The owner of the film, David O. Selznick was forced use his influence just for McDaniel to be allowed in the building. Even then, she sat by herself at a table in the back of the room away from her white costars. While this was at a tremendous personal expense to her dignity and morale, McDaniel gave a sincere acceptance speech during which she stated: "I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and the motion picture industry." Following her victory, McDaniel faced criticism, some claiming she perpetually played maid stereotypic roles, while racist studio executives repeatedly rejected her for dramatic roles. Nevertheless, McDaniel broke open opportunities for future Black actors.
A Black Woman Co-Invented the First Modern Home Security System
In 1966, Marie Van Brittan Brown, a New York nurse, invented the first home security system with her husband, Albert Brown, an electronics technician. Marie worked the late shift as a nurse, and her husband had odd hours, so she would be home alone in a high-crime area. She did not feel secure and wanted a way to see who was at the door without opening it. Marie designed a system with many different features including a set of peepholes at different levels so she would be able to see visitors, a camera gliding between peepholes to snap photos of people outside, and an emergency button that would summon the police directly. Her patent served as the template for modern home security systems including devices like Ring doorbells, CCTV cameras, and smart home surveillance systems. Marie Van Brittan Brown's mastermind invention still protects millions of homes worldwide.
