I agree with everything you have said, toujoursmoi. What is unfortunate, however, is that the writers of the film were a bit lazy when it came to the facts that Ms. Fox rattled off to her son. I looked most of them up, and found that many of them were either not correct, or only somewhat correct.
For example, Isaac Johnson did not invent the bicycle frame. He did patent a modern looking folding bicycle frame in 1899. Its parts could be taken apart for more compact storage.
Daniel Hale Williams did not perform the first open heart surgery. He is, however, sometimes credited as the first surgeon to perform a FULLY SUCCESSFUL open heart surgery. Others had performed similar procedures, after which patients sometimes recovered, but did not survive long-term.
Frederick M. Jones did not "invent the air conditioner". However, he did invent many things, including, a self starting gasoline motor, silent movie projector for talking movies, the first automatic fridge system for long haul trucks, an air conditioning unit for military field hospitals, and a refrigerator for military field kitchens.
Granville T. Woods dedicated his life to developing a variety of inventions relating to the railroad industry. To some he was known as the "Black Edison", both great inventors of their time. Granville T. Woods invented more than a dozen devices to improve electric railway cars and many more for controlling the flow of electricity. His most noted invention was a system for letting the engineer of a train know how close his train was to others. This device helped cut down accidents and collisions between trains. However, Granville T. Woods did not "invent the electrolyte battery", as stated in the movie.
J.B. Rhoads did not invent the toilet.
No on the gas mask. No on the fountain pen. Yes on the traffic light.
There were a few more that she said that I didn't look up. But, I think you get my point. Not a big deal, as far as the movie goes. But, a bit disappointing. They certainly could have put together a nice list, without the inaccuracies.
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DeDefromSkegee
13 years ago
Reminder: Many of those inventors did not get credit for their inventions because the patent system was not set up by them. The patent system gave credit to those who brought the invention to the public. Many of the inventions came into existence as a direct result of the amount of work slaves were tasked with, which were not only difficult, but time consuming. Hence, the need to find creative solutions to performing those task effectively and efficiently.
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