caption death_date death_place birth_place nationality name birth_date known_for image article_title birth_name occupation
patent bed issued to sarah e. goode for the cabinet april 8 , 1905 chicago , illinois toledo , ohio american sarah e. goode 1855 first . african-american woman to receive a united states patent sarahgoodebed.gif sarah e. goode
 sarah elizabeth jacobs inventor entrepreneur
sarah e. goode

sarah elizabeth goode -lrb- 1855 -- april 8 , 1905 -rrb- was an entrepreneur and inventor .
she was the first african-american woman to receive a united states patent .
she was born sarah elizabeth jacobs in 1855 in toledo , ohio , although she would sometimes say that she was born in spain .
sarah goode was the second of seven children of oliver and harriet jacobs , both described in public records as mulattos .
oliver jacobs , a native of indiana was a carpenter .
when the american civil war ended the family moved to chicago , illinois where she met and married archibald `` archie '' goode , who was originally from wise county , virginia ; they would have six children , of whom three would live to adulthood .
he described himself in the records as a `` stair builder '' and as an upholsterer ; she opened a furniture store .
the idea for her invention came out of necessity of the times .
most people she knew lived in small homes or studios and these residents had a minimum amount of habitable space .
many of her customers complained of not having enough room to store things much less to add furniture .
goode invented a folding cabinet bed which provided people who lived in small spaces to utilize their space efficiently .
when the bed was folded up , it looked like a desk .
it had spaces for storage .
she received a patent for it on july 14 , 1885 .
sarah goode died in chicago in 1905 and is buried in graceland cemetery .
