Commentary: African American Scientists and Inventors
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Fred McKinley Jones (1893-1961) is certainly one of the most important Black inventors ever based on the sheer number of inventions he formulated as well as their diversity.
Fred Jones was born on May 17, 1893 in Covington, Kentucky. His father was a white railroad worker of Irish descent and his mother was Black. It is believed that his mother died while he was young and Fred was raised by his father. When Fred was eight years old, his father took him to Cincinnati, Ohio to where they visited St. Mary's Catholic Church rectory. Fred's father urged Father Edward A. Ryan to take Fred in in order to expose him to an environment where he might have a better opportunity for gaining an education. Fred performed chores around the church in return for being fed and housed, cutting the grass, shoveling snow, scrubbing floors and learning to cook. At an early age, Fred demonstrated a great interest in mechanical working, whether taking apart a toy, a watch or a kitchen appliance. Eventually he became interested in automobiles, so much so that upon turning 12 years of age, he ran away from his home at the rectory and began working at the R.C. Crothers Garage.
(con't.)
Initially hired to sweep and clean the garage, Fred spent much of his time observing the mechanics as they worked on cars. His observation, along with a voracious appetite for learning through reading developed within Fred an incredible base of knowledge about automobiles and their inner workings. Within three years, Fred had become the foreman of the garage. The garage was primarily designed to repair automobiles brought in by customers but also served as a studio for building racing cars. After a few years of building these cars, Fred desired to drive them and soon became one of the most well known racers in the Great Lakes region. After brief stints working aboard a steamship and a hotel, Jones moved to Hallock, Minnesota began designing and building racecars which he drove them at local tracks and at county fairs. His favorite car was known as Number 15 and it was so well designed it not only defeated other automobile but once triumphed in a race against an airplane.
On August 1, 1918 Jones enlisted in the 809 Pioneer Infantry of the United States Army and served in France during World War I. While serving, Jones recruited German prisoners of war and rewired his camp for electricity, telephone and telegraph service. After being discharged by the Army, Fred returned to Hallock in 1919. Looking for work, Jones often aided local doctors by driving them around for housecalls during the winter season. When navigation through the snow proved difficult, Fred attached skis to the undercarriage of an old airplane body and attached an airplane propeller to a motor and soon whisked around town a high speeds in his new snowmachine. Over the next few years Fred began tinkering with almost everything he could find, inventing things he could not find and improving upon those he could. When one of the doctors he worked for on occasion complained that he wished he did not have to wait for patient to come into his office for x-ray exams, Jones created a portable x-ray machine that could be taken to the patient. Unfortunately, like many of his early inventions, Jones never thought to apply for a patent for machine and watched helplessly as other men made fortunes off of their versions of the device. Undaunted, Jones set out for other projects, including a radio transmitter, personal radio sets and eventually motion picture devices.....Read More
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Journalist Dana Goldstein’s first book, “The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession,” was released earlier this month and it’s already made the New York Times bestseller list. Color Lines: ‘The Teacher Wars’ Author Talks Race and Gender in American Education.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Race and gender are major themes in the book and in the history that you recount. Did you anticipate this being the case?
I knew I wanted to write an intersectional history of teaching; that was super important to me from day one. A lot has been written by historians about female teachers throughout history and quite a lot has also been written about the black educational tradition. I knew I wanted these two strains to be big parts of the book.
Catherine Beecher, who you describe early in the book as America’s first “media darling school reformer,” is depicted as having a clear bent toward a particular type of teacher: a middle class white female one. Where do you think we are today with the norms that shape who is the ideal teacher?
There are some parts of that early 19th century ideal that have persisted, particularly that the ideal teacher [who] is passionate and mission-driven. Back then [education] was very explicitly mission-driven. The mission was spreading Protestant ideas. Now the mission is that teachers are there to close achievement gaps. The mission is to bring poor kids up to middle class kids’ level and to help poor kids get ready for college. Teachers are not supposed to care about how much they get paid, and they are supposed to have a calling to do this work and not complain too much about the conditions of the labor.
Is our concept of the ideal teacher racialized?
We have discussed, on the policy level, quite a bit in recent years about getting more “elite” people to be teachers. Any time I hear language like that I wonder: “Are you talking about a Harvard grad who is probably white, maybe male? Do you think getting more people like that will solve our crisis?”
What surprised you most about the history of race and education?
One of the really big things that surprised me was that the roots of this “no excuses” reform ideology that is so popular today was actually in black educational theories and ideas dating back to the 19th century. We often mischaracterize those movements today as something that white people are imposing on communities of color. Yet what I found is that in the ideas of Anna Julia Cooper, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois—figures who disagreed with each other on a lot of things and had a fertile debate—[valued] “no excuses,” strict discipline and academic rigor. Those things were, to a certain extent, areas of agreement among black educational leaders.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Don’t boo. Vote!” is only part of the picture. The Root: Why More Black Americans Should Run for Elected Office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Labor Day in Milwaukee, President Barack Obama gave a rousing speech to supporters in which he accused Republicans of playing political games instead of helping American families. When the crowd started to boo, the president leaned on a quip from his 2012 re-election campaign: “Don’t boo. Vote!”
It’s a familiar sentiment, particularly in the black community. From the Reconstruction Era through Jim Crow and into the civil rights movement, voting has been seen as the key to remedying injustice and addressing racial inequality. Today, increased voting is the fallback strategy when the black community searches for a plan to address the latest tragedy. When Trayvon Martin’s killer was acquitted of murder charges, many figures, from the family’s attorney to national political strategists, argued that the most appropriate response was for black Americans to vote. When Ferguson, Mo., focused the nation’s attention on its racial issues, the Rev. Jesse Jackson called on people to use “voting power to elect officials to respond to their real needs.”
But increasing voter turnout is insufficient in and of itself. For the black community, the deeper issue is the lack of black candidates running for office. A new Pew Research Center report shows that black Americans are much less likely than whites to seek elected office at any level. Of the only 2 percent of Americans who have ever run for office, 82 percent are white and only 5 percent are black.
While registration drives and increasing voter participation are worthwhile efforts, in a republic, representatives speak for the people. As such, voter-turnout campaigns must be combined with candidate-turnout initiatives—it’s just as important for black communities to identify and encourage citizens to run for office as it is to recruit new voters.
For one thing, black candidates are black-voter-turnout machines. In a paper titled “Descriptive Representation and the Composition of African-American Turnout,” professors John D. Griffin and Michael Keane found that when black candidates run on platforms consistent with the policy concerns of the larger black community, turnout increases. Further, descriptive representation—when the race of the candidate is the same as the race of the voter—“affects which African Americans’ interests are communicated to elected officials through voting.”
But why is it important that black candidates run for office? First, as mentioned, descriptive representation increases voter turnout. This is especially important because of the exceptionally low national turnout for local elections. A Fair Vote report cites a 2013 study that found only about 25 percent of Americans vote in their mayoral elections—the 1999 race for Dallas mayor had turnout of just 5 percent.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks at Milwaukee's Laborfest 2014.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A nearly unprecedented step. Slate: Sierra Leone to Shut Down the Entire Country to Try to Slow Ebola Outbreak.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ebola crisis continues to ravage West Africa as the outbreak shows signs of accelerating. So far, more than 2,600 people have died from the worst outbreak of the virus in history. “The upward epidemic trend continues in the three countries that have widespread and intense transmission—Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone,” the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
Unable to find, contain, and treat those infected, increasingly desperate Sierra Leone came up with a dramatic solution: Shut down the entire country. The government ordered the country’s population of 6 million people to remain in their homes starting Thursday at midnight through the weekend. “During the lockdown … volunteers will try to identify sick people reluctant or unable to seek treatment,” the Associated Press reports. “Authorities have said they expect to discover hundreds of new cases during the shutdown. Many of those infected have not sought treatment out of fear that hospitals are merely places people go to die. Others have been turned away by centers overwhelmed with patients.”
Sierra Leone orders its 6 million people to stay at home.
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the wake of recent events in Ferguson and other controversial police killings, the attorney general wants to heal the relationship between the people and the police...will it work? Ebony: Holder Launches New Initiative to Build Trust Between Law Enforcement and Communities.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ferguson, Missouri has been in the national spotlight since the August 9th killing of unarmed Black teen, Michael Brown, Jr. The teen's death at the hands of White police officer Darren Wilson has incited protests and strengthened the ongoing national debate on racial profiling and police brutality in Black communities. Indeed, Brown is just one of many Blacks recently killed during what many have seen as an unchecked spate of overzealous, trigger-happy policing. The cases of Eric Garner, John Crawford, Ezell Ford, Rekia Boyd, Kimani Gray, and Aiyana Jones—just to name a few—are a testament to the ever-increasing list of Black men and women gunned down by police, often with no recourse. This seeming disregard for Black life has done nothing to lessen the mistrust that many African Americans already have for the police.
Attorney General Eric Holder is on a mission to change this. Today, in the wake of the incidents stemming from Brown's killing, the attorney general’s office is announcing a new federal initiative aimed at building trust between law enforcement and the communities that they serve. The attorney general, along with law enforcement experts from across the nation, will speak about the details of his federal initiative today in a meeting that is open to the press.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The futility of fighting criminal justice racism with statistics. Slate: White People Are Fine With Laws That Harm Blacks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But according to a new study from Stanford University psychologists Rebecca C. Hetey and Jennifer L. Eberhardt, the stats-first approach to issues of race and incarceration isn’t effective—in fact, it’s potentially counterproductive.
Hetey and Eberhardt conducted two experiments, one in San Francisco and one in New York City. In the former, a white female researcher recruited 62 white voters from a train station to watch a video that flashed 80 mug shots of black and white male inmates.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Unbeknownst to the participants, Hetey and Eberhardt had “manipulated the ratio of black to white inmates, to portray racial disparities in the prison population as more or less extreme.” Some participants saw a video in which 25 percent of the photos were of black inmates, approximating the actual distribution of inmates in California prisons, while others saw a video in which 45 percent of photos were black inmates.
After viewing the mug shots, participants were informed about California’s “three-strikes” law—which mandates harsh sentences on habitual offenders with three or more convictions—and asked to rate it on a scale of 1 (“not punitive enough”) to 7 (“too punitive”). Then participants were shown a petition to amend the law to make it less harsh, which they could sign if they wanted.
The results were staggering. More than half of the participants who viewed the “less-black” photographs agreed to sign the petition. But of those who viewed the “more-black” photographs, less than 28 percent agreed to sign. And punitiveness had nothing to do with it. The outcome was as true for participants who said the law was too harsh as it was for those who said it wasn’t harsh enough.
In which case, Hetey and Eberhardt hypothesized, there must be another explanation. Hence the New York City experiment, which tested the role of fear in driving support for harsh law enforcement policies. There, they found similar results using a variation on the San Francisco test.
Instead of photos, researchers gave demographic statistics on New York state’s inmates to a sampling of 164 white adult New York City residents. As with the previous experiment, one group received a “more-black” presentation—where the prison population was 60.3 percent black and 11.8 percent white, approximating the racial composition of inmates in New York City jails—while the other received a “less-black” variation, where the prison population was 40.3 percent black and 31.8 percent white (approximating that of the U.S. prison system writ large).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome to the Black Kos Community Front Porch!
Pull up a chair and sit down a while and enjoy the company.