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by BLACK ENTERPRISE EDITORS June 23, 2023 ------------------------- Keith C. Holmes has spent over 30 years researching inventors of color. His company, Global Black Inventor Research
Projects, Inc., which he launched in Brooklyn and now has branches on six continents, provides a canopy under which students of all ages can expand their perspectives on African creativity
and spark their own inventive genius. In 2008, Holmes published _Black Inventors: Crafting Over 200 Years of Success_, a book highlighting the innovative accomplishments of Black men and
women from six continents and more than 70 countries. One of the book’s focal points is the pioneering work of Henry E. Baker, an African American who attended the United States Naval
Academy and worked as a copyist with the United States Patent Office in the early 20th century. Baker was interested to know how many men and women of color in the world had filed for
patents. While Western countries have a system of filing patents, not all inventions are registered in patent offices. In fact, every society and civilization has developed its own ideas and
inventions with or without patents. So Baker sent more than 2,500 letters to lawyers across the United States to learn if people of color had filed for patents. He received a number of
responses from people who scoffed at and ridiculed the idea of black men and women inventing anything. Undaunted and undeterred, Baker continued his inquiries and ultimately received a
number of letters documenting more than a thousand inventions by Black men and women from Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and the United States. For Holmes himself, it all
started in 1988, when he attended the International African Arts Festival in Brooklyn and a book called _Black Inventors in America_ by McKinley Burt caught his eye. After buying and reading
the book, he was so fascinated and enlightened by its contents that he considered purchasing additional copies and selling them. Instead, his mentor and his family encouraged him to write
his own book about Black inventors. Holmes initially laughed the idea off, but, still intrigued by _Black Inventors in America_, eventually took their advice and embarked on a research
journey that took over 20 years to complete. His research proves that the invention bug did not only burrow into the African American imagination but also into that of Africans in the
diaspora. For more information about Holmes’ book and his other efforts to promote the accomplishments of Black inventors, visit GlobalBlackInventor.com.