In the heart of the 19th century, when most Black people in America were still denied education, freedom, and basic human rights, one man managed to carve his name into the pages of American innovation. His name was Henry Blair, and in 1837, he became the second African American to receive a U.S. patent.
Blair was not a scholar or a scientist. He was a farmer, and he could not read or write, likely because Black people in his era were denied access to formal schooling. In many states, it was even illegal to teach an enslaved African to read, and anyone caught doing so could face heavy fines or punishment. But what he lacked in education, he more than made up for in brilliance, creativity, and practical skill. His mind worked much like the land he tilled, rich, productive, and always ready to bring something valuable to life.
In 1834, Blair patented his corn planter, an ingenious device that allowed farmers to plant seeds more efficiently. Before his invention, planting was a backbreaking task, requiring farmers to dig holes by hand and drop seeds one by one. Blair’s machine changed that. It featured a compartment that distributed seeds evenly into the soil while simultaneously covering them, dramatically reducing the labor and time needed for planting.
This simple but revolutionary tool not only increased productivity but also made large-scale farming more manageable. In an era when every hour of field labor counted, Blair’s machine was a gift to agriculture.
Three years later, in 1837, Henry Blair secured his second patent, this time for a cotton planter. The device used a mechanical feed that distributed cotton seeds uniformly. It helped farmers maintain consistent spacing, improved crop yield, and minimized waste. In a time when cotton dominated the Southern economy, Blair’s invention represented a major step toward mechanized agriculture.
Blair followed in the footsteps of Thomas L. Jennings, the first African American to receive a patent in 1821. Jennings, a tailor by trade, invented a method for dry cleaning garments using a chemical process he called “dry scouring.” His patent not only provided him with financial benefits but also demonstrated that African Americans could innovate at the highest levels, even during an era of pervasive racial discrimination.
Patent Racism
Despite early successes like those of Jennings and Blair, the path for African American inventors was never secure. Patent racism in the United States began with slavery. Enslaved Africans were not allowed to own anything, not land, not wages, and not their own ideas. Whatever they created legally belonged to the enslaver. Because of this, they could not hold patents and were denied both credit and financial benefit for their inventions.
In 1858, a U.S. Attorney General ruling further limited African American patent rights, declaring that free African Americans could not be granted patents because they were not considered citizens and therefore could not take the required patent oath.
The ruling had devastating effects: patent filings by African Americans dropped sharply nationwide, and countless inventions were lost to history because their creators were legally excluded. This restriction remained until after the Civil War, when the 14th Amendment of 1868 granted citizenship to formerly enslaved African Americans, giving them the legal standing needed to secure patents.
Sadly, not much else is known about Henry Blair’s life. There are no surviving portraits, letters, or records detailing his later years. Like many Black inventors of his time, he was swallowed by the silence of history, his contributions forgotten for generations. But his inventions continued to shape the agricultural tools that followed, influencing designs that would fuel America’s agricultural expansion.
Sources:
https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/blair-henry-1807-1860/
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1263&context=penn_law_review_online
