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August 1836

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Achievement · science
Henry Blair Patents a Cotton Planter — Second Patent by a Black American

Henry Blair of Maryland received his second US patent, this time for a cotton planter. He remains the only enslaved person known to have been granted a US patent. His two patents in 1834 and 1836 established an early record of Black technological innovation under extreme legal and social constraints.

Events

  1. August 31, 1836
    Henry Blair Patents a Cotton Planter — Second Patent by a Black American

    Henry Blair of Maryland received his second US patent, this time for a cotton planter. He remains the only enslaved person known to have been granted a US patent. His two patents in 1834 and 1836 established an early record of Black technological innovation under extreme legal and social constraints.

  2. August 31, 1836
    Henry Blair Patents Cotton Planter — Second Patent to a Black American

    Henry Blair received his second US patent — for a horse-drawn cotton planter that cut seed furrows and covered them in a single pass — making him the only Black American known to have received two patents before the Civil War. His inventions directly improved agricultural efficiency in the same crop system that enslaved millions, demonstrating Black technological capability under severe legal constraint.