Black inventors, from the very beginning of their involvement in the invention and patenting process, have had an important and earth shattering impact on the world. Author Keith Holmes highlights the work of early Black inventors from nearly all fifty states in his book, Black Inventors, Crafting Over 200 Years of Success. In the United States, sixteen African American men have been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Holmes’ presentation will highlight the contributions of three who hailed from New York State: Granville T. Woods, Lewis Latimer and Marc E. Dean. Bring your lunch.

The Rapp Road community is a little known African American community located in Albany’s Pine Bush. Most of its original residents migrated from Shubuta, Mississippi to Albany, New York in the 1930s and 1940s under the direction of a preacher named Louis W. Parsons. In this presentation, Jennifer Lemak, Senior Historian and Curator of African American History at the New York State Museum, will chronicle the history of the migrants from Mississippi to Albany and some of the challenges in preserving the community’s history. Bring your lunch.

African American newspapers provided vital information to the African American community by reporting stories from a perspective often ignored by their counterparts. During the Great Migration era, many subscribers in the south depended on news reports from northern publications for an accurate picture of northern life and opportunities for African Americans. In this presentation, Cordell Reaves, Historic Preservation Program Analyst at the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, will explore the impact of some of these publications and how they shaped African American life primarily during the early to mid-1900s. Bring your lunch.