I found it very refreshing to hear of the Detroit branch PTO being named after Elijah, as “the real McCoy” has always suggested the preference for seeking high quality products or ideas instead of accepting anything less.

Some public recognition of black inventors started occurring as long ago as the mid 60′s, shortly after the civil rights movement began gathering momentum, as I clearly remember hearing of George Washington Carver’s great contributions to developing agricultural products into hundreds of other useful by-products while I was very young here in Washington state. But then again I have always been very focused on the sciences, as in the arts and sciences that might be socially and economically beneficial to all, hence the great importance of the patent incentive to all inventors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver

Thanks for bringing up this subject. The contributions of African-American inventor is, unfortunately, not as well publicized as it should be.

I did a talk this past February on Granville Woods, often referred to as the “Black Edison” who invented railroad induction telegraphy; Woods could hold his own, even against the likes of Edison. This coming February, I’ll do a talk on George Washington Carver, probably next to McCoy the most famous African-American inventor. And there are others such as Lewis Latimer and Shelby Davidson.