--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor

On October 14,1834, Henry Blair of Maryland was granted a patent for a corn-planting machine and, two years later, a second patent for a similar device used in planting cotton.
In the registry of the Patent Office, Blair was designated "a colored man"- the only instance of identification by race in these early records. Since slaves could not legally obtain patents, Blair was evidently a free man and is probably the first black inventor to receive a U.S. patent.