Thomas L. Jennings Patents Dry-Scouring Process

New York tailor Thomas L. Jennings received US Patent 3306x for 'dry scouring' of clothes — a precursor to modern dry cleaning — becoming the first known Black American to hold a US patent. A free man in New York, Jennings used his patent earnings to purchase his family's freedom and fund abolitionist causes, including support for the American Anti-Slavery Society.