•HRES 1133 EH 
Whereas Historically Black Colleges and Universities have 
contributed and continue to contribute significantly to 
the overall percentage of African-Americans who receive 
undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of 
science, including agriculture (51.6 percent), biology 
(42.2 percent), computer science (35 percent), physical 
science (43 percent), and social science (23.2 percent); 
Whereas many African-Americans have overcome extraor-
dinary odds to advance scientific contributions to man-
kind; 
Whereas the Nation’s transportation system has been greatly 
enhanced due to the contributions of Richard Spikes, who 
invented the automatic gear shift technology, Joseph 
Gambol, who invented the super charge system for inter-
nal combustion engines, Garrett Morgan, who invented 
the automated traffic signal, and Elbert Robinson, who 
invented the electric railway trolley; 
Whereas modern-day high-density cities and the United 
States unique architectural development of high rise 
buildings and modern-day skyscrapers were enhanced by 
Alexander Mills, who invented key elevator technology; 
Whereas health and medicine in the United States have been 
advanced by Otis Boykin, who invented the pacemaker, 
Dr. Ben Carson, who led a medical team who became the 
first to separate conjoined twins successfully, Dr. Charles 
Drew, who found the method to preserve and store blood 
which led to the world’s fist blood bank, and Dr. Daniel 
Williams, who performed the first successful open heart 
surgery; 
Whereas press and media have been strengthened by Will 
Purvis, who invented the improved fountain pen, Lee
•HRES 1133 EH 
Burridge, who invented typewriting machine advance-
ments, and W.A. Love, who contributed to the advanced 
printing press; 
Whereas home appliances have been improved by Frederick 
Jones, who invented the portable air conditioner, Lewis 
Latimer, who helped pioneer the electric light bulb, 
George Sampson, who invented the clothes dryer, and 
John Standard, who enhanced the refrigerator; 
Whereas historically, African-Americans have faced unprece-
dented inequities which have caused a disparity in the 
number of undergraduate and advanced degrees in the 
sciences, described as ‘‘the achievement gap’’; 
Whereas many Members of Congress have proposed that this 
gap can and will be eliminated through progressive poli-
cies such as desegregation and Federal outreach and 
training programs; 
Whereas many studies suggest that the achievement gap of 
African-Americans in the sciences has been lessening due 
in part to the effectiveness of these policies and pro-
grams; 
Whereas the United States has vast untapped potential be-
cause African-Americans and other minorities remain 
underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and 
math (STEM) disciplines; and 
Whereas society in the United States today would not be the 
same without African-American innovations in the 
sciences: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the extraordinary number of African- 
Americans who have overcome significant obstacles to
•HRES 1133 EH 
enhance innovation and competitiveness in the field of 
science in the United States; 
(2) honors and recognizes all African-American 
innovators who have contributed to scientific education 
and research, directly and indirectly, whose contributions 
have increased economic empowerment in the United 
States; and 
(3) encourages the Administration to invest in pro-
grams that are proven effective to lessen the achieve-
ment gap of African-Americans as well as other minority 
and disadvantaged groups in the sciences and ultimately 
strengthen competitiveness in the United States. 
Attest: 
Clerk.