Thomas Jennings the abolitionist and brilliant inventor

 By Ramon ‘Absoloot’ Robinson

Oftentimes, when many of us think about Civil Rights, we tend to think of an era during the 1950s and 1960s. Historical events such as The March on Washington, The Montgomery Bus Boycott, the tragic death of Emmet Till, and Brown Vs. Board of Education are some of the significant events that usually come to mind. This is due in part to our public education system and the ways in which the media shapes our opinions about our history. We may easily forget that our fight for civil rights started long before the timeframe designated The Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). The era when the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, not only impacted America but influenced many political movements across the globe. So as we traditionally give them their flowers every Black History Month, let’s also include some lesser-known pioneers into the mainstream consciousness who also fought for our liberation. With that being said, we like to introduce you to the incomparable Thomas Jennings.

Thomas Jennings was not only an abolitionist who fought for equal rights for all Americans, but he was also a brilliant inventor. Thomas Jennings invented the commercial dry-cleaning process he called “dry-scouring,” receiving a patent in 1821 and becoming the first African American to be granted a patent in the United States.

A skilled tailor and successful  businessman in New York  City, Jennings was highly disappointed in conventional cleaning methods. This was the catalyst for him to experiment until he found a successful way to clean without harming or damaging the clothing. Then, in 1820, he applied for a patent. Under the Patent Act of 1793, an individual had to sign an oath declaring that he was a citizen of the United States. Jennings, being a freeman, was a citizen thus, he was awarded the patent.

At the time, Jennings’s patent generated considerable controversy during this period. Enslaved people at this time could not patent their inventions; their efforts were the property of their oppressors. This regulation dates back to the U.S. patent laws of 1793. The law was based on the legal presumption that “the oppressor owns the fruits of the labor of those enslaved both manual and intellectual.” Patent courts also held that enslaved people were not citizens and therefore could not own the rights to their inventions. In 1861 patent rights were finally extended to people who were enslaved.

With the success of his business and patent, he became a leader in the abolitionist and civil rights movement in New York City. He was a founder and trustee of the Abyssinian Baptist Church assistant secretary for the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia in 1831. Additionally, he helped organize the Legal Rights Association in 1855, raising challenges to discrimination and funding and organizing legal defenses for court cases.

Jennings’ daughter, Elizabeth, an activist like her father, was the plaintiff in a landmark lawsuit after being thrown off a New York City streetcar while on her way to church. With support from her father, Elizabeth sued the Third Avenue Railroad Company for discrimination and won her case in 1855. Unfortunately, the company ordered its cars desegregated the day after justice was served. After the incident, Jennings organized a movement against racial segregation in public transit; private companies provided the services.

The same year, Jennings was one of the founders of the Legal Rights Association. This group organized challenges to discrimination and segregation and gained legal representation to take cases to court. Unfortunately, Jennings died just a few years later in 1859, just a few years before the practice he so reviled—enslavement—was abolished.

When Jennings died, Frederick Douglass wrote about his death. He noted the importance of the patent Jennings received and that the patent recognized him as a “citizen of the United States,” a designation at the time that shocked many.

Jennings and his daughter had a hand in the effort to desegregate public facilities, a movement that lasted well into the Civil Rights Era a century later. Indeed, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C., echoed many of the convictions that Jennings and his daughter had expressed and fought for 100 years before.

https://www.invent.org/inductees/thomas-jennings

https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/thomas-jennings

Dry Cleaning was invented by African Man Thomas Jennings

About Carma Henry 24481 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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