IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 966 
Honoring African-American inventors, past and present, for their leadership, 
courage, and significant contributions to our national competitiveness. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 7, 2008 
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. GORDON of Ten-
nessee, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. ROHR-
ABACHER, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. FARR, Mr. EHLERS, Mrs. 
MALONEY of New York, Mr. KIND, Ms. LEE, Mr. REYES, Mr. LAMPSON, 
Mr. ROSS, Mr. HONDA, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. 
ELLISON, and Mr. SESTAK) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Science and Technology 
RESOLUTION 
Honoring African-American inventors, past and present, for 
their leadership, courage, and significant contributions 
to our national competitiveness. 
Whereas African-American and other minority scientists, 
technologists, engineers, and mathematicians have made 
significant achievements in our national research enter-
prise and inspired future generations; 
Whereas the National Society of Black Engineers (‘‘NSBE’’) 
lifts up African-American researchers of the past and 
present, including special contributors named in this Res-
olution; 
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Whereas Garrett Augustus Morgan made outstanding con-
tributions to public safety; 
Whereas firefighters in the early 1900s wore the safety hel-
mets and gas masks that he invented, and for which he 
was awarded a gold medal at the Second International 
Exposition of Safety and Sanitation in New York in 
1914; 
Whereas 2 years later, he himself used the mask to rescue 
men trapped by a gas explosion in a tunnel being con-
structed under Lake Erie; 
Whereas following the disaster which took 21 lives, the City 
of Cleveland honored him with a gold medal for his heroic 
efforts; 
Whereas in 1923, he received a patent for a traffic signal to 
regulate vehicle movement in city areas, and this device 
was a direct precursor to the modern traffic light in use 
today; 
Whereas Ernest Everett Just was a trailblazer in the fields 
of cell biology and zoology; 
Whereas his research and papers on marine biology were so 
well received in 1915 that Ernest Everett Just was 
awarded the first Spingarn Medal by the National Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Colored People at age 32; 
Whereas Ernest Everett Just dedicated years of research to-
ward the study of cells and cell structures in order to un-
derstand and find cures for cellular irregularities and dis-
eases such as sickle cell anemia and cancer and became 
one of the most respected scientists in his field; 
Whereas racial bigotry in the United States caused much of 
his work and his achievements to go unrewarded; 
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Whereas in other countries, he was treated as a pioneer and 
was recruited to work with Russian scientists and invited 
to be a guest researcher at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute 
for Biology, the world’s greatest scientific research lab-
oratory at the time; 
Whereas he was welcomed at the Naples Zoological Station 
in Italy and the Sorbonne in France, where he conducted 
research and was regarded as one of the most out-
standing zoologists of his time; 
Whereas Archibald Alphonso Alexander excelled in design and 
construction engineering; 
Whereas, employed by the Marsh Engineering Company, he 
designed the Tidal Basin bridge in Washington, DC; 
Whereas after studying bridge design in London, Archibald 
Alphonso Alexander and George Higbee formed a general 
contracting business that focused on bridge design; 
Whereas his designs include Washington, DC’s Whitehurst 
Freeway, the heating plant and power station at the Uni-
versity of Iowa, and an airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama; 
Whereas he went on to become the first Republican territorial 
governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands; 
Whereas David Nelson Crosthwait Jr. made significant and 
practical contributions to the engineering of heating and 
cooling systems; 
Whereas he held numerous patents relating to heat transfer, 
ventilation, and air conditioning, the areas in which he 
was considered an expert; 
Whereas David Nelson Crosthwait Jr. served as director of 
research laboratories for C. A. Dunham Company in 
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Marshalltown, Iowa, where he served as technical advisor 
from 1930 to 1970; 
Whereas he designed the heating systems for Radio City 
Music Hall and Rockefeller Center in New York City and 
authored texts and guides on heating and cooling with 
water; 
Whereas during the 1920s and 1930s, he invented an im-
proved boiler, a new thermostat control, and a new dif-
ferential vacuum pump to improve the heating systems in 
larger buildings; and 
Whereas African-American innovators continue to improve 
the daily lives of Americans through their inventions and 
stir the creative spirit of future generations: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved, That the United States House of Rep-
resentatives— 
(1) recognizes and appreciates the significant 
achievements to our national research enterprise 
made by African-American and other minority sci-
entists, technologists, engineers, and mathemati-
cians; 
(2) honors and extends its appreciation and 
gratitude toward all African-American inventors, for 
the significant and honorable research and edu-
cational contributions that improve the lives of all 
citizens and that have gone unacknowledged too 
long; and 
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(3) looks for opportunities to make sure that 
the creativity and contribution of minority scientists, 
technologists, engineers, and mathematicians can be 
expressed through research, development, standard-
ization, and innovation. 
Æ 
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