By Rev. Allen D. Johnson, Sr., City Editor - Black Americans have made significant contributions to this country. We have played a major role in shaping and building this country and our inventions and contributions to the Arts and Sciences and American industry are part of what makes America such a great nation.
These inventions are now being shared with St. Louis through the efforts of one Black American who recognized the importance of sharing this information with others.
"I attended a book fair and came across a book of Black inventors," said Loretta Moore, Founder and CEO of the Museum of Black Inventors. "The book was richly filled with thousands of inventions made by Blacks that play a significant role in our day to day lives. I got a little angry that none of this was shared with me when I attended school. So I decided that I had to find a way to share it with others, especially our children, and opened the museum," said Moore.
The Museum was founded in 1994. It is located at 7 South Newstead, and is open to the public. [ Is now a traveling museum. ]
The Museum of Black Inventors is a nonprofit museum dedicated to increasing appreciation and informing the public of the contributions made by Black Americans that have helped to build and stabilize this country," said Moore.
"The contributions are vast and the list can go on and on. And some of the items in which Blacks have invented or improved upon are items that we use in our every day lives, " said Moore. "Black Americans have invented or improved upon such things as the water closet (toilet stool), traffic light, pencil sharpener, lawn mower, fire extinguisher, printing press, mailbox, hair brush, bicycle, dust pan, and many many more," added Moore.
The Black Inventors Museum is the first of its kind to open and house permanent exhibits. Its newly renovated building will feature artifacts, photographs, patent dates, and documents that have been drawn from extensive collections.
Permanent exhibits will usually display inventions spanning from the 1800's to the present.
"It took a lot of hard work and financing to get where we are today with the museum" said Moore. "The most difficult aspect of coming into existence was not getting the tangibles but getting the financing. It was getting others to see and share in my vision and to share with me in time and dollars," said Moore.
"We use volunteers to staff the museum daily and we are in need of volunteers. We are a nonprofit museum and we can always use financial support from our community. There are a lot of other things that the museum brings to the community and so we look for some support from the community," said Moore.
We have classrooms where we tutor children and we provide a scholarship for African- American High School Seniors.
"I hope that through this museum, appreciation will be increased and the public will be informed about the contributions that Blacks have made to this country. I hope it will motivate Black American children today to be creative and to invent things," said Moore.
"When I first started working on this project and I spent many hours burning the night light; my children would always question what I was doing. And although I told them, it wasn't until the museum physically manifested itself did they fully understand the significance of what I was doing or become encouraged themselves," said Moore.
The are a lot of people that have come to share my vision. People who, along with me, spend a great deal of time and money to continue to make sure that the museum stays open. We don't want anything back but to get the information out and continue the museum. For more information, call MOBI at 314/533-1333.