The Sharing the Joys of Construction Essay Competition was created by EDiS Company in 2021 for Delaware trade and vocational high school students to shine a spotlight on the positive impact diversity has in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry during Black History Month. Students wrote about individuals or companies who have inspired them or have had a positive impact on the built environment. First place junior Nasir Williams, second place freshman India Motley, and third place junior Gabrielle Smith won $750, $500, and $250 respectively. Sussex Technical High School runner up is senior Tyler Keyek, winning $100, and the POLYTECH High School runner up is Sarina Forston, winning $100. Each winner had their owner sponsor teacher who won $100 to use in their classrooms.
Grade: 9th School: St. Georges Vocational Technical High School
Sponsor Teacher: Jennifer Janssen
Lewis Howard Latimer
Ever thought about how a light bulb works? Ever thought about who invented the light bulb. You’re probably thinking about Thomas Edison right? Don’t get me wrong, Thomas did create the light bulb and created a brilliant invention because that’s what the world teaches about that invention today, but has anyone ever mentioned Lewis Latimer? For example, If I asked you “Who’s Lewis Latimer?” Would you know who he was? The way the world is today students like myself are taught in repetition. When I say this I mean that teachers have been teaching about the same things and stick to the main ideas of things or in this case the main inventors of people that create things. For example, take Frederick Jones and Marie Brown. These people have helped with major inventions that we use today such as the refrigerators and security systems but never get mentioned. Another big example is Martin Luther King Jr. Schools today talk about him and what he’s done for African Americans but still tend to give credit to people like Abraham Lincoln for ending racism. Overall, there’s many people I could continue to talk more about but today we will focus on Lewis Howard Latimer and what he did for the world today as an African American inventor.
So, before I got to know more about Lewis I wanted to see how many people even knew he existed. I went around my school and other environments to ask people who he is and what he did for the world today. The two questions I asked everyone was “Who created the light bulb?” and then asked “Do you know who Lewis Latimer is?” My first interviewer was a girl named Mckenzie and she stated, “Thomas Edison created the lightbulb, but I don’t know who Lewis Latimer is.” My second interviewer was my teacher Mr. Rouser, “I know Thomas Edison had a lot of credit for the lightbulb and was the most successful for the lightbulb but there were people who worked with him and didn’t get the credit for it. I’ve heard of Latimer before but I can’t remember off the top of my head who he was.” My 3rd interviewer was my mom and she stated “Thomas Edison created the light bulb and Latimer was an African American who created the telephone.”
My 4th interviewer was my sister and she said “I don’t know the answer to either question.” My last interviewer was my history teacher and she stated, “Thomas Edison created the lightbulb but I’m not sure who Lewis Latimer is, he does sound familiar though.” Overall, the whole point of interviewing people was to prove a point that even though Lewis played a major part in helping create the lightbulb, no one knew who he was and what he did. Society today only teaches people the main creators of things or the people that took all the credit for an invention. As stated, African Americans have done so much for the world today but don’t get talked about due to how education is taught. It’s important for this to change and it’s important for teachers to do background knowledge for themselves to teach every detail about history instead of teaching history based on how everyone else teaches it. Lewis Latimer is who will be talked about and today his name will be heard to explain who he is and what he’s done for the world today.
Lewis Howard Latimer was an African American inventor and patent draftsman who helped make great adjustments to the famous creation, the light bulb as well as other great inventions. Lewis was the youngest out of 4 siblings to his parents George Latimer and Rebecca Latimer who were former slaves and fought their way for freedom as well as buying their freedom. Lewis was born on September 4th, 1848 outside of Boston and Died December 11th, 1928 in New York. He went to school for his 12 main years and taught himself everything he knew the remainder of the way. Lewis Joined the Union army during the civil war at the age of 19 and returned back to Boston after the military released him from his act to continue serving.
Once he left the military, he “then worked at Crosby and gold Patton law office and taught himself mechanical drawing and drafting”. Lewis then became the head draftsman at the age of 20 and married his wife Mary Wilson at the age of 25. Lewis and Mary had 2 kids, Emma Jeanette Latimer Norman and Louise Rebecca Latimer. Lewis was a respectful man who had a heart for drawing, reading, and learning. While Lewis grew his road to success, Latimer was the only African American man to join Edison’s pioneers and worked with three of the most celebrated scientific inventors in American history, Alexander Graham Bell, Hiram S. Maxim, and Thomas Alva Edison. While Lewis worked with these inventors he created many things that amazed many people.
Lewis has done many things in his life while living, but what did he get known for? What did Lewis invent that got him his success? Well, Lewis invented, helped invent, and created many things such as an electric lamp in 1881, an apparatus for cooling and disinfecting that was used in hospitals in 1886, published a book in 1990 that talked about Thomas Edison’s electrical system, played a major role in the making of the telephone, improved the production of carbon filament, improved a railroad car bathroom and made important adjustments to the process of the famous creation, the light bulb. Not only did Lewis create many interesting things in his free time but he also taught mechanical drawing and English to recent immigrants at the Henry Street Settlement in New York. Lewis made many accomplishments while he was living and allowed himself to leave the world with a piece of him behind.
Overall, Lewis Latimer has done many things for the world today. Lewis has created some of the most famous things today and deserves to be known for them. As an African American myself, writing this means a lot because as an African American I still tend to see my people get mistreated or don’t get credit for certain things because of our skin color. It’s not fair that people in the world today aren’t associated with background knowledge of what’s being taught in the world today. The fact that most people believe Thomas Edison created the light bulb is not the issue because he did play a major role in that invention. The problem is that credit should also be given to those who worked with him and helped him out as I used Lewis Latimer for an example. Overall the purpose of this essay was to allow readers to know that African Americans are smart and can easily do anything anyone else can.
