THE BLACK INVENTORS WHO BUILT AMERICA AND LOST OWNERSHIP They invented it. America patented it. Long before Silicon Valley, Black inventors were creating machines that powered railroads, factories, and the industrial economy. But ownership was never neutral. Before 1865, enslaved people were legally property so anything they created belonged to someone else. After slavery, the rules changed on paper… but not in practice. Patents required money. Lawyers. Banks. Protection. Most Black inventors we