15 Search results for "inventor"

There’s a new app on the market, and it’s meant to keep police conduct honest and protect civilians. “Cop Watch” was created by Darren Baptiste, 46, a professional app developer based in Canada. 

After a lengthy court battle, the rightful creator of the “Super Soaker” toy has been awarded $72.9 million. Johnson Research and Development Co. and founder Lonnie Johnson were in a royalty dispute with Hasbro toy company since February over royalties accrued for the Nerf line toys between 2007 and 2012.

by Alycia Kamil We Speak Our City Back On Language, Gentrification, and Black Presence in Chicago There are stories that arrive already smoothed out. Made digestible for funders, developers, and media outlets. The kind that trades in progress narratives and polished soundbites. This is not that kind of story. This piece opens differently. The voice […]

In 2015, Rwandan literary author Dominique Uwase Alonga founded the African publishing house, Imagine We, to cultivate, train and produce African authors and storytelling. They produce Rwandan and African children and young adults’ books.

Editor’s Note: This piece is excerpted from a talk I did for Cal State LA’s Black Future Series in February. Though I love poetry, I usually avoid readings when there aren’t many artists of color on the bill. But recently I went to just that type of event in support of a friend who was […]

by Jamila Mitchell The emancipation of freed slaves and subsequent constitutional amendments of the 20th century meant that white people could no longer marginalize Black folks through the physical bondage of chattel slavery. Faced with new restrictions, they quickly resigned to maintaining their rule through a new age of psychological warfare on the formerly enslaved, […]

When people who earn transformative success reach out to ensure other people have meaningful opportunities, commendation is due. That is exactly what Lonnie Johnson, a Black inventor and engineer, is doing with his nonprofit Johnson STEM Activity Center. The nonprofit pays for high school robotics teams in Atlanta. As Blavity reported, one of the teams […]

By Kristen Adaway   As June 19th approaches, or Juneteenth as it is often known, many African-Americans across the United States will celebrate the day that marked the end of slavery in the states. On this day in 1865, General Gordon Granger, leader of the Union soldiers, gave the executive order that “all slaves were […]

In 2013, 461 people were shot and killed by police in the United States. One victim’s final words were released with more information in Chicago on Friday, January 15.

14-year-old high school freshman Caleb Christian grew concerned about the number of incidents of police abuse in the news. He knew that while there were bad cops out there, good police officers also existed in various parts of the country. The problem was that he had no way of figuring out which communities were highly […]

So I was on the train one morning and I happened to see a young black man getting off with me and in my opinion he appeared ‘angry’. I initially thought, ‘I wonder what is going on with him?’ And then I happened to be see a white man right behind him and judged his […]

An extraordinarily talented 15-year-old inventor  has taught himself how to create technical gadgets with very little resources. Kelvin made his own FM radio transmitter and a generator among other things. And he did it all with things that he’s found in the trash. The teen was discovered by MIT.