Unsung Heroes *Black History Month*

Welcome back chickies, I've missed you. I hope you brought some tea because I have a sweet treats for you today. 

As you all know its February and while most focus on Valentines day and all its joy. They tend to forget that its Black History Month. 

This was always my Favorite topic in grade school. When ever we were assigned projects in history class my father always encouraged me to look deeper into our history and find the men and women who made changes that most people didn't know about.

So in honor of BHM I will be sharing 3 unsung heroes and heroine of our past. 

1. Lyda Newman- Born in Ohio around 1885, By the late 1890 she was a NY resident. Lyda was an African-American hairdresser by trade and inventor. Lyda Newman patented an improved hairbrush design in New York City in 1898. Granted she was the the original inventor of the brush her Improvements to the brush made her a significant contributor to its evolution. Granted a patent for her invention in 1898, Newman's brush was the first hairbrush with synthetic bristles (prior to that brushes were made from animal hair, such as boar's hair). But Newman's brush also had several other unique innovations. 

• Most notably, Lyda Newman's hair brush invention was designed to promote ventilation and provide storage for excess hair or impurities. As noted in Newman's patent: "The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved hair brush which is simple and durable in construction, very effective when in use, and arranged to permit of conveniently cleaning the brush whenever desired."                                                                          
• With Newman's innovative brush, impurities pulled from the scalp or hair would pass through the openings or slots in the brush to a recess in the back. The impurities could then be emptied from the brush by disconnecting the holder and dumping or blowing them out. Easy access to the bristles also permitted the user to clean them out whenever necessary. 

2. Otis Boykin- born August 29, 1920 in Dallas, Texas. He attended Fisk College in Nashville, Tenn but unfortunately, he had to drop out when his family could no longer afford to pay tuition. He continued his education at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. 

• Undeterred, Boykin began working hard on inventions of his own, with a special interest in the emerging field of electronics. Boykin earned his first patent in 1959 for a wire precision resistor, which allowed for the designation of a precise amount of resistance for a specific purpose. This was followed by his 1961 patent for an electrical resistor that was both inexpensive and easy to produce. Additionally, according to U.S. patent No. 2,972,726, this resistor had the ability to “withstand extreme accelerations and shocks and great temperature changes without danger of breakage of the fine resistance wire or other detrimental effects.

• The advances incorporated into Boykin's resistor meant that many electronic devices, including consumer goods and military equipment, could be made more cheaply and with greater reliability. His resistor was quickly incorporated into a number of products, including guided missiles and IBM computers in the United States and overseas. In addition, a version of his resistor made possible the precise regulation necessary for the success of the pacemaker, which has helped to save and lengthen the lives of thousands of men and women around the world. Boykin died of heart failure in Chicago in 1982. Over the course of his life he earned over 25 patents, his first issued in 1959 and his last in 1985.

3. Lloyd Hall- born in Elgin, IL. 1894, He was an African American chemist. His father was a Baptist minister, and his grandfather was one of the first Black preachers at the church where his father was minister. Dr. Hall served as junior and senior Sanitary Chemist of the Department of Health laboratories for the city of Chicago from 1915 to 1919. He also served as chief chemist 1919-1921)for John Morrell and Company of Ottuma, IL. He was president of the Chemical Products Corporation, Chicago, from 1921-1924.

• Lloyd Hall pioneered antioxidant use when he discovered that foods with fats and oils spoiled when certain ingredients react with oxygen in the air. He was the first to use the chemicals lecithin, propyl gallate, and ascorbyl palmite as antioxidants, and he developed a process that made it easier to mix these chemicals with food in order to protect it. One of his most successful products was an antioxidant salt mixture. His efforts in this area convinced Griffith Laboratories to open a large manufacturing facility devoted to protein hydrolysats.

• People believed that spices preserved food, but Hall found that most spices, like cloves, ginger, and pork powder, held large amounts of dangerous molds, yeast, and bacteria. Hall found ethylenoxide gas, a well-known insecticide that was effective in destroying food-borne microbes. He found a way to remove mixtures and gases by subjecting the food to a vacuum and then adding ethylenoxide gas into a vacuum chamber. "Vacuga" sterilization treatment was later applied to drugs, hospital supplies, and cosmetic supplies.

• He held over 100 patents in the United States, Britain, and Canada. The contributions made by Lloyd Hall made him one of America's top food chemists. He died January 2, 1971.

             
Well I hoped you enjoyed today's topic, and remember to share this with your family and friends. Its very important for us to know our history and keep it alive. 

Thank you for coming to chat with me. I pray you come back to visit me again soon. Same time next week? You bring the tea and I will bring the treats.

With Blessings & the Peace of God,

xoxo, Chevonne.