•HRES 1085 EH 
Whereas Benjamin Banneker, an astronomer, surveyor, alma-
nac author, and farmer, helped survey the boundaries of 
what became the District of Columbia; 
Whereas Walter McClennan invented the automatic railway 
car door in 1920; 
Whereas Elijah McCoy, a fireman and oiler for the Michigan 
Central Railroad, developed a ‘‘lubricating cup’’ in 1872 
to automatically oil steam engines on trains, which dra-
matically improved efficiency by eliminating the frequent 
stopping necessary for lubrication of the engine; 
Whereas other inventors attempted to sell their own versions 
of the ‘‘lubricating cup’’ but most companies wanted the 
authentic device for their trains, requesting ‘‘the Real 
McCoy’’; 
Whereas according to Booker T. Washington, McCoy had 
produced more patents than any other African-American 
inventor of his time, many of which contributed to the 
railroad industry; 
Whereas McCoy was inducted into the National Inventors 
Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, in 2001; 
Whereas Granville T. Woods invented over a dozen devices to 
improve the railroad system including his most notable 
invention in 1887, the Synchronous Multiplex Railway 
Telegraph, which enabled communications between mov-
ing and stationary trains creating a system that enabled 
a railroad engineer to determine the distance between 
trains to help improve accidents and collisions; 
Whereas Woods also founded the Woods Railway Telegraph 
Company and is credited with the development of a sys-
tem for overhead electrified railroads, patented several
•HRES 1085 EH 
overhead wire and third rail transmissions systems, and 
made improvements to the steam-boiler furnace; 
Whereas Andrew Beard, an ex-railroad worker who lost his 
leg in a car coupling accident, invented a device in 1897 
that automatically performs the dangerous job of linking 
rail cars together, commonly called the Jenny Coupler, 
the device served as the precursor for the modern system; 
Whereas Lewis Howard Latimer, who drafted the patent 
drawings for Alexander Graham Bell’s patent application 
for the telephone and established public lighting systems 
for entire cities like New York City, Montreal, Paris, and 
London, invented a flushing water closet for trains in 
1874; 
Whereas, A.B. Blackburn patented a railway signal in 1888 
designed to be operated by the wheels of a train; 
Whereas W.F. Burr invented a railway switching device in 
1899; 
Whereas Elbert R. Robinson invented the electric railway 
trolley in 1893; 
Whereas the work of many influential African-Americans 
through the civil rights movement and other social and 
political movements in the United States led to desegre-
gation in transportation as well as significant improve-
ments to the working conditions and rights of transpor-
tation workers throughout the United States; 
Whereas Rosa Parks, Homer Plessy, and many other civil 
rights activists insisted on equitable access to public 
transportation; 
Whereas Pullman Porters, which provided service to and at-
tended to the needs of passengers on board trains, be-
came leaders in the civil rights movement and formed the
•HRES 1085 EH 
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, under the 
leadership of civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, who 
fought tirelessly to improve the working conditions and 
pay for the Pullman Porters; 
Whereas the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was the 
first African-American labor union to sign a collective 
bargaining agreement with a major United States cor-
poration on August 25, 1937; and 
Whereas National African American History Month is cele-
brated in February 2010: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the goals and ideals of National Afri-
can American History Month; 
(2) honors and celebrates the important contribu-
tions that African-Americans have made throughout his-
tory to the transportation and infrastructure of the 
United States; and 
(3) urges citizens and communities throughout the 
United States to join with representatives of the Federal 
Government to recognize the substantial contributions 
that African-Americans have made and continue to make 
to the Nation’s transportation and infrastructure sys-
tems. 
Attest: 
Clerk.