My Black is Beautiful

P&G’s commitment to connecting with and celebrating African-American women is stronger today than ever before. Our extraordinary initiative, My Black is Beautiful, celebrates the unique beauty of all African-American women. The movement encourages black women to define and promote that beauty, inspiring self-confidence and self-esteem. We encourage you to share your own story to be added to a symbolic, digital mosaic of inspirational stories and images of beauty.

Black History Month is the perfect time to celebrate the past, present, and future of African-American women, and Vocalpoint is joining in. Did you know that the following African-American women patented inventions we still use or have been influenced by today?

Sarah Goode won her patent in 1885 for her invention of the cabinet bed. As a furniture store owner in Chicago, she quickly noticed that the city’s tiny apartments left little room for beds. Her fold-up cabinet bed was the solution to that problem; when folded up, it took up little space and actually doubled as a writing desk, complete with storage space. When unfolded, it turned into a bed.

Madam C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, was an entrepreneur, inventor, and philanthropist. She’s best known for inventing her line of hair care products in the early 1900s, the Walker Hair Care System. Scalp disease, poor diet, and infrequent washing made hair loss a common threat for women of the day, and when it struck Walker, she was determined to fight back. She developed a shampoo and conditioning agent that stimulated healthy hair growth, and seeing that it worked, began selling it. It was a success, as were her marketing methods; she hired women to serve as door-to-door saleswomen, and founded Leila College to train her “hair culturists” in the use of her products.

Alice Parker was an inventor who received her patent in 1919 for an efficient centralized heating system. Little is known about her personal life, but we do know that she was a graduate of Howard University, a historically African-American university that accepted male and female students. Her furnace was gas-powered and could heat an entire house. It contained several heating units with individual hot air ducts, which opened in different parts of the building’s structure. It was a revolutionary design; previously only coal and wood were used to heat homes, and ducts had never brought heat to different areas of the house. Your centralized heating system works today because of Alice Parker!

Marie van Brittan was the pioneer of the home security system, receiving her patent for such a system in 1969. Her system included a set of four peepholes and a camera that slid up and down on a track to look through each of them. The person inside the secured home could view the camera’s feedback live on a closed-circuit television system, and choose to unlock or lock a door by remote control.

Patricia Bath, MD (born 1942), is the first African-American doctor to receive a patent (she would receive four total), and is the founder of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in Washington, DC. She received her residency in ophthalmology at New York University from 1970-1973, and her passion for ophthalmology drove her to invention. Her first patent, in 1981, was for the Laserphaco Probe, a device that uses a laser to quickly and painlessly dissolve cataracts. Two more patents were granted for improvements on the probe, which can restore the sight of people who had been blind from cataracts for decades. Her latest patent, granted in 2000, involves her work in ultrasound technology to treat cataracts.

We encourage you to join the My Black is Beautiful community at www.facebook.com/mbib and celebrate your unique beauty with black women everywhere!