This is Granville Tailer Woods (4/23/1856 - 1/30/1910). He was an inventor and held somewhere around 60 patents in his life. Some might call him the “Black Edison” but for me, he’s Granville T. Woods and doesn’t need to be framed in comparison to a White man. He was born in Columbus, Ohio so his parents were either born-free or freed Black people. Granville went to school until he was 10 but had to quit and work (he later went to night school). He started as a machinist and blacksmith apprentice. In 1872 (16 years old), he became a fireman on the Danville and Southern Railroad in Missouri and later became an engineer. In December 1874, he moved to Springfield, Illinois and took a job in a steel mill. In 1878, he worked on a British steamer, Ironsides, and became the Chief Engineer. He returned to Ohio to work as an engineer on the Dayton and Southwestern Railroad. In 1880, he moved to Cincinnati and started his work as an electrical engineer and inventor. This was partially motivated by his dissatisfaction with racial discrimination in his other jobs. This company became the Woods Electrical Company. In 1885, he invented a thing that combined a telephone and telegraph to send voice and telegraph messages on the same wire; he later sold the rights to the American Bell Telephone Company which allowed Woods to become a full-time inventor (Alexander Graham Bell’s company which evolved into AT&T). In 1887, he patented the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph which allowed communications between trains and train stations. In 1888, he developed a system of overhead electric conducting lines which helped the development of overhead railroad systems across the country. Thomas Edison twice challenged Woods for the patent for the telegraph system. Edison lost twice and after the second one tried to hire Woods at the Edison Company; Woods refused. Granville T. Woods is known but not like Edison or Bell, and that is a reflection of the effect of White supremacy and its need to reduce the existence of others. I am thankful that continued to press on! Salute Granville T. Woods, an innovator, originator, and pioneer. #granvilletwoods #blackhistorymonth #mrkblackhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/BtidLEHnAcl/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=f0x1i5uk9ryc
