Hidden No More: Week 17 round-up
Alexander Miles, Inventor
In 1887, Miles received a patent for a method of automatically and simultaneously opening or closing elevator doors and elevator shaft doors. His invention addressed the danger of either set of doors being left open.
Aaron McDuffie Moore, Physician & Entrepreneur
In 1898, Moore cofounded the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company to serve the Black community. A working doctor, he took the role of medical director. The company became a giant of Durham’s Black Wall Street.
Garrett A. Morgan, Inventor
In 1923, Garrett was granted a patent for a three-way traffic signal with lettered signs and electric lights that prompted drivers to stop or go. He sold the rights to his patent to General Electric for $40,000.
Onesimus, Medical Advisor
Onesimus, an enslaved African in Boston, explained that being inoculated with smallpox gave protection from the disease. He had observed this in Africa. His information proved useful during a smallpox outbreak in Boston in 1721.
Joan Murrell Owens, Marine Biologist
Owens taught reading and English for years, but wanted to be a scientist. So she studied corals, earned a geology Ph.D. in 1984, and taught geology and biology. She even discovered a new genus and three new species of corals.