Lewis Howard Latimer

Ebon Venus

Let others boast of maidens fair,
Of eyes of blue and golden hair;
My heart like needles every true
Turns to the maid of ebon hue.

I love her form of matchless grace,
The dark brown beauty of her face,
Her lips that speak of love's delight,
Her eyes that gleam as stars at night.

O'er marble venus let them rage,
Who set the fashions of the age;
Each to his taste, but as for me,
My Venus shall be ebony.

Light to his love...

In 1873, at the age of 25, a man by the name of Lewis Howard Latimer fell in love with Mary Wilson. This "ebony venus" brought light to the life of Latimer, in as much as he contributed to the literal enlightenment of humanity on a global scale. In fact, during his life of 80 years, this brilliantly multi-talented man would not only work with Thomas Edison as the only black member of the Edison Pioneers, but would also draw the plans for Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone patent. And, did I mention that he had a lovely wife?

Origins of the man of light

Some would say that Latimer had a difficult childhood, for his father abandoned the family when he was 10, forcing him to preempt his education in order to support himself and his family. At the age of 13, when most of us were faced with such monumental decisions as which subject to do in third form, his brother rescued Latimer from a life of manual labor on a farm school. Together, they made an 80-mile trek to Boston, carefully avoiding authorities along the way. This escape was an echo of his parents' escape from slavery.

From a life of running from authorities, begging for food, and stealing rides along the railway, escaped, at age 15, into the Navy. Two years later, he returned to Boston and, after several unsuccessful weeks of searching, secured a position as an office assistant with the firm of Crosby and Gould, a law firm specializing in Patents.

From this point on, Latimer would steer his life forever forwards. He had, from his childhood, been eager to learn new skills. Now he keenly observed the draughtsmen at work. He invested his salary in drawing books and instruments. Daily, he dedicated himself to practicing drawing at home daily, with the intent of becoming at least as good as those he worked with.

Latimer asked, and was allowed to, temporarily fill in for one of the draftsman (who laughed at the idea, as he was blind to the abilities which Latimer, then a humble office assistant, had been honing modestly in seclusion). Once his skill became evident, he was promoted to Junior Draughtsman and began to make a name for himself.

By 30 years of age, Latimer had gained respect as a skilled draftsman of patents, and had even made the drawing the famous Alexander Graham Bell's U.S. patent on the telephone. However, Latimer was not content to dwell at this plateau. He had analyzed the many inventions, which he had drawn, and was intuitively aware that he could be a better inventor than many.

Beginning to Shine

Having met his wife while working at Crosby & Gould, one might think that Latimer had already achieved all that a man could want. However, he had a dream of being an inventor rather than merely on who drew the inventions of others, and pursued this dream to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where in 1880, at the age of 32, he came under the employ of Hiram Maxim. Maxim was chief engineer for the United States Electric Lighting Company, and was also the inventor of the machine gun.

For this point on, Latimer made invaluable contributions to the field of electric lighting. He overcame barriers of racism against blacks in London, language barriers in Canada (where he had to learn French), and relative ignorance by making popular the concept of the wiring electric lamps in parallel rather than series.

Latimer was a man of action as well as a competent author, for not only was he an amateur poet ^[1], but he wrote the standard book on electric lighting ^[2]. From 1884, circa age 36, Latimer was a peer of Thomas Edison as one of the elite engineers who Edison selected to work with in creating inventions for public benefit and personal profit.

Lights Out

It was not until illness struck Latimer at around age 76 that his activities came to an end, ultimately ceasing forever with his death in 1928 at 80 years of age. However, the most tragic part of this story is that until doing this English project, not even most Engineering students would even know that Latimer, ever existed. Nonetheless, his legacy lives on in many ways, from the parallel lights in every household to his perception that "Black is Beautiful".

References

[1] Latimer was a gifted poet who would publish a volume entitled Poems of Love and Live.

[2] Lewis H. Latimer, Incandescent Electric Lighting. A practical description of the Edison System (New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1890).

Bibliography

Louis Haber, Black Pioneers of Science & Invention (Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1970) LCC#77-109090 [Source: Mr. H. Wharton, BCC Tutor of English and Communications 2 to Electronics 1 Full-Time 2001 class]

Robert C. Hayden, 9 African American Inventors (Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd., 1992) ISBN 0-8050-2133-7 [Source: BCC Library]

Author: Keinall Caddle. Circa 13 March, 2002.