This is Part 1 of our Black History Month curated news blog series. See Part 2 here. Michelson IP celebrates Black History Month by highlighting these insightful stories on inventorship and innovation:
- “By 1957 Kenner had saved enough money to her first ever patent: a belt for sanitary napkins. It was long before the advent of disposable pads, and women were still using cloth pads and rags during their period.” – The Forgotten Black Woman Inventor Who Revolutionized Menstrual Pads, Vice
- “With the exception of a few notable inventors who are regularly elevated during Black History Month […] the disregard of many of the era’s Black inventors not only whitewashes the historical record, but biases who we perceive to be innovators in the present.” – The Black innovators who elevated the United States: Reassessing the Golden Age of Invention, Brookings
- “By linking patent records to income tax records, researchers found that the socioeconomic class, race, and gender of a child in the United States at birth is a better predictor of their likelihood of getting a patent than aptitude or interest.” – Finding The Lost Einsteins: How To Make Academic Inventing More Inclusive, Forbes
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The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, an initiative of the Michelson 20MM Foundation, addresses critical gaps in intellectual property education to empower the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs. Michelson 20MM was founded thanks to the generous support of renowned spinal surgeon Dr. Gary K. Michelson and Alya Michelson. To learn more, visit 20mm.org.