It’s time to honor the first African American who hand carved a working wooden clock.

Benjamin Banneker was born in Maryland November 1731. He was a land-owning tobacco farmer of modest means.

In 1751 Banneker borrowed a pocket watch. He was fascinated by its mechanisms. Drawing each component and creating pieces out of wood. Circa 1753 he constructed the first wooden clock in the United States. It disappeared in a mysterious fire and has never been recovered.

Banneker published an almanac offering weather data, recipes, and medical remedies. As a noted astronomer and mathematician George Washington appointed Banneker to a surveyor team. The goal was to select sites for the White House and other federal buildings. In October 1806, Banneker died in his sleep.

Banneker’s Legacy continues to this day as Banneker, Inc. Founded in 2003. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado and black owned.

Personal interview with Banneker founder and CEO Derrick Holmes.

What timepiece collections have been the most popular?

“The most popular current watches have been the Baller collection, the Poise, and the Nice. In the past we had an extremely popular limited edition Black Eagle watch that sold out quickly. Three of our most popular original collections are the Power, the Imhotep, and the Me which we want to bring back at some point in 2025”.

What new products and designs are in store for 2025?

“In 2025 we are hoping to launch a new version of the Poise and a series of stainless-steel mesh bracelets. A new series in the Camelot family named “the Fire” promises to be exciting as well”.

Any new materials being used from the African Continent to produce timepieces?

“Currently, we source many of our exotic woods from the African Continent. Black sandalwood, red sandalwood, wenge wood, and ebony wood from Mozambique, and zebra wood from Congo. We are always looking for additional collaborations with African manufacturing partners”. 

That concludes the interview, enjoyable, insightful, and a pleasure.

As a young professional living in Cincinnati the 43mm Camelot Gold Watch is unique and of exceptional quality. It helps deliver my personal swagger.

Remember to change clocks and watches for daylight saving time on Sunday March 9^th.

Cartoon character Aljay is created by Sterling Haynes.

https://bannekerstore.com

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After World War II morale across the country was depleted from the loss of manufacturing jobs. To spread hope and cheer Jackie Ormes pitched a comic about a spunky little girl and her silent sister to the Pittsburgh Courier.

Patty Jo ‘n’ Ginger debuted September 1^st, 1945. The comic ran in fourteen editions of the Courier touching more than a million people a week. Themes from the comic strip included African American life experiences, World War II, and social justice.

In 1947 Ormes contracted with the Terri Lee doll company of Lincoln, Nebraska to create a doll of her character Patty Jo. A mold was used to create the doll’s body. The faces were painted by hand. Patty Jo was the first African American doll to have an extensive upscale wardrobe.

Ormes was the first nationally syndicated African American woman cartoonist. Her strips and comics ran in black owned newspapers such as the Chicago defender. She retired in 1956 as her rheumatoid arthritis got the best of her.

She remained married to Earl Clark Ormes until his death in 1976. They had a daughter, but she passed away due to a brain tumor at the age of three.

Posthumously in 2014 Ormes was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. In 2018 she was selected for the Will Eisner Hall of Fame award. Regarded as the most prestigious and significant award in the comic industry.

She passed away on December 26, 1985.

Cartoon Characters Gregory and his biological daughter Key-Low-Low are created by Sterling Haynes.

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Zelda Jackson “Jackie” Ormes was the first African American female syndicated cartoonist.

She was born August 1, 1911, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was raised by her father William Winfield Jackson who owned a printing company. Her mother Mary Brown Jackson was a seamstress.

Ormes was the arts editor for the Monongahela High School Yearbook. After high school Ormes began working at the Pittsburgh Courier as a sports reporter. When she pitched her comic strip, the Courier accepted her proposal. The Courier is a black owned newspaper founded in 1907 and still operates today.

Ormes’s first comic strip, Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem, first appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier on May 1, 1937. The strip, starring Torchy Brown, was a humorous depiction of a Mississippi teen. Whom found fame, singing and dancing in the Cotton Club in New York city. Themes for the strip included social justice, pollution, and women’s independence.

Torchy was made into collection of fashionable paper dolls called Torchy Togs.

In 1942 Jackie moved to Bronzeville, Chicago with her husband Earl Clark Ormes. Home of the Chicago defender where Ormes expanded the reach of her comics.

Earl was the manager of the upscale Sutherland Hotel. Celebrities such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughn frequented the hotel. A barbershop, beauty parlor, and jazz lounge were on premises.

Jackie Ormes career and adventures continue in part two.

Cartoon character Dreama is created by Sterling Haynes.

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An entrepreneurial black man designed, built, and repaired cars for over half a century.

Frederick Douglass Patterson was born September 17^th, 1871, in Greenfield, Ohio, the fourth of five children. His father Charles Richard and business partner J.P Lowe established a carriage manufacturing business in 1873.

He graduated from Greenfield High School in 1888. As an outstanding athlete he was recruited to play football for Ohio State University. He was the first black football player in the University’s history.

After college he worked as a teacher in Louisville, Kentucky for two years. However, he moved back home to support the family business.

Patterson assumed leadership after his father passed in 1910. As a visionary he shifted the company’s focus away from carriages into automobiles. In 1915 he started development of the first Patterson-Greenfield as a Horseless carriage.

The custom-made Patterson-Greenfield automobile had a four-cylinder engine and reached top speed of 50 miles per hour. Special features included: full floating rear axle, electric starting and lighting system, demountable rims, and a ventilating windshield.

About 150 cars were produced. The two-door roadster and four-door touring car. Patterson’s Auto Service provided repair and maintenance for the vehicles.

Due to competition from other car manufacturers. The company rebranded to Greenfield Bus Body Company In 1920. Production shifted to building bodies for trucks and buses. However, the financial problems from the Great Depression caused customers to cut back on bus orders.

Patterson died January 18^th, 1932, at the age of 60. In 1939 the company closed its doors after providing 74 years of transportation services.

Characters Aljay, Aleki, and twins Drella and Dreama are created by Sterling Haynes.

Feature image provided

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One of the world’s most well-known African American poets. Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr. was born on June 7^th, 1943. She grew up in both Knoxville, Tennessee and Cincinnati Ohio. As a child she frequently had colds, sniffles and allergies. Often missing school to read books from the family library.

In 1960, Giovanni enrolled at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, as an early entrant. Intelligent and ambitious to enroll in college before finishing high school. She graduated with a degree in history.

The Civil Rights and Black Arts movement inspired her early poetry. Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgements. All three of these early works aided in establishing Giovanni as a new voice for African Americans. There are some who say if Nikki Giovanni didn’t say it perhaps it didn’t need to be said.

Her poetry includes themes of social issues, race, human relationships, and hip hop.

During the 1970s, she began writing children’s literature, and co-founded a publishing company, NikTom Ltd, to provide an outlet for other African American women writers.

Giovanni has taught at many universities, including Rutgers, Ohio State, and Queens College. She was an Emerita Professor in the Department of English at Virginia Tech since 1987. In 2022 she stepped down to pursue other ventures. The HBO documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project further explores her life.

Throughout her career she was awarded 7 NAACP Image Awards, The Ohio Women’s Hall of fame, and many more honors.

https://nikki-giovanni.com

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By Professor Sterling Haynes

Be glad that an African American Man saved the food supply chain.

Frederick McKinley Jones was born on May 17, 1893, in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a naturally skilled mechanic, he furthered his knowledge through self-education, and reading study materials.

In the 1900s reliable food distribution was an ongoing mess. Blocks of ice used to keep food cold would melt on hot summer days, spoiling entire shipments of products.

To redeem this logistics issue, Inventor Frederick Jones and Sound Equipment Manufacturer Joseph Numero created the Thermo King company in 1938.

Jones developed the first portable refrigeration units for troops stationed overseas in World War II. Soldiers were supplied with fresh food, cold drinks, medicine, and plasma. Jones was awarded the Mobile Refrigeration U.S. Patent No. 2,303,857.

Mobile refrigeration technology gave birth to the frozen food industry. Food banks can rely on massive distribution networks to transport fresh meat from farmers across the country on a regular basis.

Jones became the first African American to be elected to the American Society of Refrigeration Engineers and awarded the National Medal of Technology. He died on February 21, 1961, from lung cancer. He held more than sixty patents and was inducted in the national inventor’s hall of fame in 2007.

Award winning cartoon characters are created by Sterling Haynes for “Sketching with Sterling” on WCTV. My.viebit.com to watch episodes.

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Thanks to the invention of a visionary Black woman. We can now make phone calls over the internet. Dr. Marian Croak was born May 14, 1955, in Manhattan, New York. She had a childhood fascination with plumbers, electricians, and other workers who solved problems. Her high school math and science teachers inspired her to pursue a STEM career. 

Dr. Croak earned her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in 1977. In 1982 she earned her Ph.D. in Quantitative Analysis and Psychology from the University of Southern California. 

After college Dr. Croak began her career at AT&T, researching digital telecommunications in the Human Factors division. In 1995, this led to the creation of “Voice over Internet Protocol.” U.S. Patent No. 7,599,359.

Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP is a technology that enables users to make phone calls with an internet connection instead of a phone line. The speaker’s voice is converted into a digital signal that travels across the internet. This signal is converted back into sound for the receiver to hear the message.

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a security protocol used to protect communications over the internet. TLS can also be used to encrypt other communications such as email, text messaging, and VoIP to prevent eavesdropping.

Today, VoIP technology is vital for video conference calls, texting, remote working, and personal communications. Dr. Croak was inducted into the National Inventors of Hall of Fame in 2022 and is a still a vibrant part of the community.

Cartoon characters Dr. Wrigley & Bubble Gum Belinda are created by Sterling Haynes for “Sketching with Sterling” on WCTV. My.viebit.com to watch episodes.

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Another black man saves the day. By improving elevator safety for the entire country.

Alexander Miles was born in Circleville, Ohio May 18^th, 1838. He worked as a barber in Wisconsin inventing hair care products.

Miles moved to Winona, Minnesota in 1870 and where he met his wife Candance J. Dunlap from New York City. A widow with two children. In 1879, Miles relocated his family to Duluth, Minnesota shortly after the birth of their daughter, Grace. He began operating a barbershop in the four-story St. Louis Hotel.

In 1874, many elevator doors and shafts had to be manually operated. During an elevator ride with his daughter grace, he noticed a shaft door left open. There many reported accidents of people falling to their demise due to open elevator shafts.

This inspired Miles to improve elevator safety with an invention. 

He designed a flexible belt attachment to the elevator cage. Drums were positioned along the elevator shaft. Directly above and below the floors. Levers and rollers automatically closed the doors when entering the elevator. Doors opened once the elevator reached its designation.

On October 11^th, 1887, Miles was awarded U.S. patent 371,207 for Improved Method for Opening and Closing Elevators.

Due to the success of his invention, Miles was known to be the wealthiest African American in the Pacific Northwest region by the time of his death on May 7, 1918. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Cartoon character Aljay was created by Sterling Haynes for “Sketching with Sterling” on WCTV. My.viebit.com to watch episodes.

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