Throughout history, African Americans have been helping the country of America continue to grow and progress even if their efforts and achievements have gone without the recognition deserved. In honor of celebrating Black History Month, we want to shine some light on those that one might not learn about in their average history or science classes.
Colonel Charles Young
1864-1922
An American soldier, Colonel Young was the first black man to achieve the colonel rank in the United States Army, first black military attaché (military expert that is attached to a diplomatic mission), and first black U.S. national park superintendent. Young served as a captain of a black company at the Presidio of San Francisco. He became the superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant national parks. For the next ten summers of which he was stationed there, he and his company worked to stop the poaching of wildlife, illegal logging, and sheep grazing. His greatest impact on the parks was the of managing the road construction. This helped the underdeveloped park and allowed for more visitors to enjoy the natural beauty of the Sequoia trees and the earth on which they grow. Through Young’s efforts to construct a road suitable for wagons to travel across so commenced there of tourism in the parks. IN 2018, California commemorated the work that Colonel Young and his men put in to creating miles of road so more of California’s natural beauty could be admired and preserved by renaming California State Route 198 to Colonel Charles Young Memorial Highway which ends in Sequoia National Park where he served.
If you would like to learn more about Colonel Charles Young, please visit: https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/historyculture/young.htm
Alice H. Parker
1895-?
The mother of modern heating, Alice H. Parker holds the patent for her system of central heating using natural gas. The ides of using natural gas to power a heating furnace was revolutionary idea which paved the way for our own modern heating systems. Born in Morristown, New Jersey, Parker understood the struggles of keeping a home warm during the rough winters. So in her aims to eliminate the hazard and inconvenience of home heating at the time, she reinvented it by creating a system ta multi burner system that provided heat throughout the home by utilizing the pipes and Ari vents. What made her invention so novel was that it used natural gases. Thus, creating a safer way of heating homes as coal and wood would no longer be needed. She also made it possible for the heat to be controlled in different rooms. Though there is not a lot of personal history known about Alice H. Parker nor is it known if she saw any personal benefits from her patent, one thing we do know for sure and that is we are thankful for her and her innovative mind.
If you would like to learn more about Alice H. Parker, please visit: https://robairecompany.com/the-mother-of-modern-heating-a-tribute-to-alice-h-parker/
or
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/parker-alice-h-1895/
George Washington Carver
(1864-1943)
Carver is known for his help in making breakthroughs in resource conservation , by preserving soil and making farms more productive. He invented over 300 uses for the peanut and may have been the first scientist to to look at systems through the lens of biomimicry (the emulation and production of materials, structures and systems that are modeled off of biological entities and processes in an effort to solve complex human problems). As a man born into slavery a year before it was outlawed, Carver left home at a young age to pursue an education in agricultural science becoming a botanist, inventor, and teacher. As a very religious man, Carver found that God was in the little things within nature. He believed that God spoke through the beauty of nature and the joy of creating. Carter died at the age of 79 leaving behind him a legacy of scientific innovations and improvements to help the generations after him continue to thrive.
If you would like to learn more about George Washington Carver and his life, please visit: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/george-washington-carver
