Jan Matzeliger revolutionized shoe manufacturing with an invention he patented in 1883.
The son of a Dutch father and Surinamese (Dutch Guiana) mother, born in 1852. By 10 he was working in his father’s machine shop. Although he never pursued formal education, he certainly leveraged opportunity and advantage.
At 19, Jan became a sailor, landing in Philidelphia after 2 years at sea. In 1876, he moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. Not thrwarted by English as a second language, the quintessential “industrial man”1 … he adapted and overcame.
He went to work in the shoe industry, and considered ways to automate the “lasting” step that bottlenecked production.
Matzeliger's device was so complex that patent examiners had to see it in operation to understand it.
{DIY link for those who prefer old school methods, i.e. made obsolete by Jan’s invention.}
I landed on a site which appears reliable but boldly throws out false and incindiary claims.
But his bosses weren't going to let this Black youth upstage them. They took the credit, made all the profit, and Matzeliger died of tuberculosis due to his hard work and poverty.
Still, Matzeliger’s tenacity and innovative spirit helped fellow workers and low-income people throughout the country.
Even if we don’t get credit, our contributions are valuable and our persistence in the face of discrimination can have massive effects on our community!
Um…. Matzeliger was 31 when he filed his patent, hardly a “youth”. He was granted “a large amount” of stock. He strikes me as the classic American hero (except the part where he worked himself to death). #notthedream
In an article from 19552:
The “pushblack” site that posted the myth? They quickly followed their false claims with a request for money. Does that explain the unfounded emotional play?
Are there any simple biographies available for February’s history month?
Is this how I’ll spend retirement?
Every thread I tug unravels a sweater.
Let’s do this!
It seems Peter Drucker coined the term in 1995. Have you read The Future of the Industrial Man? Does my meaning match his?
Kaplan, S. (1955). Jan Earnst Matzeliger and the Making of the Shoe. The Journal of Negro History, 40(1), 8–33. https://doi.org/10.2307/2715446