The following story was written and shared by Rev. Joe Cherry. It was originally planned to be shared in-person during our “Time for All Ages” section of our Worship service. Since today was cancelled due to the snow/ice/rain storm, we decided to post this only for all to appreciate and share, in honor of Black History Month.
The story I’m going to tell you is about a typical day in a life. Nothing too dramatic happens most days, and that’s kind of the point of my story. You can listen to my telling of the story using the audio file below. You can also watch and share a video version of this talk on our YouTube channel.
We often don’t know who invented things that we use in an ordinary day. This story is going to
lift up several inventions by African Americans, so as I tell my story, you may hear me mention a
thing, like a mop for example, and when I do that, the inventor’s name will appear on the
screen.
Let’s take an invention that most people already know about to start. So when I say “I made a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” on the screen you’ll see the name the inventor, George
Washington Carver, the man who is said to have invented peanut butter, but there is some
question about that now.
For the record, I am forever grateful to Mr. Carver because peanut butter is one of my favorite
things on this earth.
On most mornings I get about 6am. The first thing I do is turn on a light (Lewis Latimer), so that
I can avoid tripping over Vicar, since her little bed is next to ours. I give her little head a pet and
then I go to let her outside.
I’m sure you know why she needs to go outside, so I won’t have to spell that out.
As I leave our bedroom, I reach for the doorknob (Osborne Dorsey) and open the door. I use
another doorknob to actually let Vicar out.
Once I let Vicar back in the house and give her her breakfast, it’s time for me to make my mine.
I often eat homemade yogurt and granola, but as a special treat I sometimes make myself
scrambled eggs, using an eggbeater (Willis Latimer).
In the morning I also make myself lunch, and this is where I get to thank Mr. Carver for his
invention of peanut butter, but there’s more.
When I pack my lunch, I put it into a lunch pail (James Robinson), also known as a lunch box.
When I was a kid, choosing your new lunch box for the year was a very important part of
starting a new school year. To no one’s surprise I’m sure, I once had a lunch box that
prominently featured Wonder Woman and other superheroes.
Before I leave the house, I check out my appearance, and use a brush (Lyda O. Newman) to
organize my hair and beard.
And then I use my thermostat control (Frederick M. Jones) to turn my heat down while Rev. Denis and I are at work.
I leave the house, again using Mr. Dorsey’s doorknob, and get into my car. Once in the car I put
the key, which hangs on my key chain (Frederick Boudin) in the ignition and relying on the
sparkplugs (Edmond Berger) I start the car and head to work.
On my way to church, I am kept safe on the roads by observing, and hoping others observe, the traffic lights (Garrett Morgan).
Many of you may know this, but I didn’t until recently. Mr. Morgan invented the traffic light in Cleveland, and now his invention is used around the world keeping billions of people safe every day!
Sometimes in my life as a minister, I get to visit people in hospitals. I did this just this week in fact. When I’m in the hospital I see other things invented by African Americans. These things help people recover from surgeries or to just have checkups.
I almost always use an elevator, grateful for the automatic door (Alexander P. Miles) to get to the floor where I’m going to visit someone. Once on the floor, I often see doctor and nurses caring for people.
I also see people cleaning the floors with a mop (Thomas W. Stewart) while I walk to the patient’s room.
And once I’m there, I sometimes people getting blood from a blood plasma bag (Charles Drew.)
No matter what the day’s adventures have in store for me, each night as I return to my home, I
pass the blue mailbox at the corner of my street (Paul L. Downing), pull into my drive way and
then, again, turning Mr. Dorsey’s doorknob, I enter my home, truly grateful for all the
wonderful ways that these inventions by African Americans keep me safe, save lives, and make
my own life nicer.
I hope as you go about your day, you might be curious about who invented the things that you
use all the time, and how important the contributions of African Americans are to our daily
living.
And though I couldn’t really figure out a way to put it in the story, I just want to mention that
the man who invented the Tricycle was Matthew A. Cherry. We’re not related, but I thought it
was so cool, that I couldn’t resist including him.
