Abstract:
African American inventors who have lived in North Carolina include two sisters, Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner and Mildred Davidson Austin Smith, who began inventing when they were little girls. Kenner held five patents and Smith received a patent for a game she developed. Alonzo Parker received his first patent in 1988 on a therapeutic exercise machine and chair. John S. Thurman received a patent in 1988 for a vehicle motion-signaling system.