Celebrating Black History Month: Granville T. Woods, inventor

Granville T. Woods, born April 23, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio, was an African American inventor who held over 50 US patents.  He had to leave school at age 10 to work to help support his poor family.  He worked in a machine shop, where he learned machining and blacksmithing.  

In 1872, he worked as a fireman for the Danville and Southern Railroad in Missouri. In 1874, he moved to Springfield, Illinois where he worked at a rolling mill.  He studied mechanical and electrical engineering in college but there is no evidence he received a college degree.

Among his inventions are a egg incubator, an automatic brake, a steam boiler furnace, and a patented Synchronous Multiplex Railway telegraphs, which allowed communications between train stations from moving trains.  

Thomas Edison filed a claim to ownership of this invention, saying he had created it first.  He took Woods to court twice, but Woods prevailed both time. Woods spent a lot of time defending his inventions from others who claimed they were the ones who invented them.

Woods died of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City, January 30, 1910.  In 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Robert L. Owen, first Native American US Senator from Oklahoma

Actually, Robert Owen was one of first two senators from Oklahoma when it became a state in 1907. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia February 2, 1856, Owen grew up a child of privilege, living in a mansion, and attending private schools in Lynchburg and Baltimore, Maryland.  His father died in 1873, after the Panic of 1873 financially ruined his father's wealth. However, he managed to graduate from Washington and Lee University as valedictorian in 1877. 

Owen's mother, Narcissa Chisholm Owen was part Cherokee and she wrote memoirs about her life being raised among the Cherokee.  Robert Owen moved to what is now Salina, Oklahoma and was accepted as a member of the Cherokee Nation. After being admitted to the bar in 1880, Owen served as the secretary of the board of education of the Cherokee Nation from 1881-1884.

He argued many significant cases dealing with Native American land issues.  He took the case of the Eastern Cherokees against the US government, seeking compensation for them under a treaty of 1835 for land they lost at the time of the Native American removals.  He finally won the case after 6 years and obtained almost $5M for the Eastern Cherokees. 

When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, he was elected as one of the first two US senators to represent the new state.  He served from December 1907 to March 1925.

Owen passed away in July 1947 in Washington DC from complications from prostate surgery and is buried in Lynchburg, Virginia. 

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1941.

L. Frank Baum, author of "The Wizard Of Oz", born 1856

Lyman Frank Baum, born May 15, 1856, is best known by his pen name L. Frank Baum.  He is also well-known for his series of  books based on The Wizard of Oz, which included 18 novels altogether, the final three installments, The Magic of Oz (1919), Glinda of Oz (1920) and the Royal Book of Oz (1921) were published posthumously.

He passed away May 6, 1919 at age 62 after suffering a stroke and slipping into a coma the previous day.  Over a hundred years later, his legacy of The Wizard of Oz shows no sign of stopping.