Honoring Thomas Jennings of New York City as the first African-American to be granted a patent by the United States.

Bill: 113-hres-514
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Jeffries, Hakeem S. [D-NY-8]
Introduced: 2014-03-12
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Congressional tributes

Intellectual property

Minority and disadvantaged businesses

Racial and ethnic relations

U.S. history
Latest action: action_date: 2014-03-12
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:
action_date: 2014-03-12
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p> Honors Thomas Jennings as the first African-American to be granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and commends his economic contributions to the United States through use of the patent system.</p> <p>Acknowledges that his inventive contributions encourage Americans to continue with innovations in science, technology, engineering, and math.</p>

tv_txt: IV 113th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 514 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 12, 2014 Mr. Jeffries (for himself, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas , Ms. Kelly of Illinois , Ms. Lee of California , Mr. Richmond , Ms. Clarke of New York , Mr. Rangel , Ms. Fudge , Mr. Rush , Mr. Conyers , Mr. Scott of Virginia , Mr. Nadler , Mr. Israel , Mr. Crowley , Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York , Mr. Tonko , Ms. Slaughter , Mr. Owens , and Mr. Meeks ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Honoring Thomas Jennings of New York City as the first African-American to be granted a patent by the United States.

Whereas Thomas Jennings was born a free African-American in New York City in 1791 and became a successful tailor with a shop on Church Street in New York City; Whereas Thomas Jennings invented a cleaning process called dry scouring , which was the precursor to dry cleaning; Whereas, on March 3, 1821, Thomas Jennings became the first African-American to be granted a patent by the United States for his cleaning process; Whereas, before the Civil War, patent laws made it significantly hard, if not impossible, for slaves to hold a patent, but Thomas Jennings was able to obtain a patent because of his free status; and Whereas Thomas Jennings utilized the earnings from his invention and business to help advance civil rights for African-Americans and to advocate for the abolition of slavery: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) honors Thomas Jennings as the first African-American to be granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office; (2) commends Thomas Jennings for his economic contributions to the United States through use of the patent system; and (3) acknowledges that Thomas Jennings’ inventive contributions encourage Americans to continue a legacy of innovation in the fields of science, technoloy, engineering, and math.