Engineer and Inventor Benjamin Montgomery Benjamin Montgomery was born an enslaved African...
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Benjamin Montgomery was born an enslaved African in 1819 in Loudon
County, Virginia. His master was Joseph Davis, a Mississippi planter and
older brother of future President of the Confederate States of America
Jefferson Davis.Blackinventor.com mentions that Davis’ children
taught Montgomery how to read and write, and he was assigned to run the
general store on the Davis Bend Plantation. Because of his excellent
work, Davis put Montgomery in charge of overseeing the entirety of his
purchasing and shipping operations on the plantation.
Montgomery learned to survey land, techniques for flood control and the drafting of architectural plans. Commerce flowed through the rivers connecting states, and navigation became difficult due to the differences in the depths of water. Merchandise would be delayed for days if the steamboat were to go adrift, Blackthen.com states. To solve this problem, Montgomery created a propeller for the steamboat that would allow for better navigation through shallow water.
Davis attempted to patent the device. It was denied on June 10, 1858,
because Montgomery was an enslaved African, not considered a citizen of
the United States, and the patent could not be in his name. According
toBlackinventor.com, Davis and his brother attempted to patent
the device in their name but were denied because they were not the true
inventor. On June 28, 1864, Montgomery, no longer enslaved, filed for a
patent for his device and was again denied.
After
the Civil War ended, Davis sold his plantation to Montgomery and his
son Isaiah. The sale was made based on a long-term loan in the amount of
$300,000.00. PBS.org states that Benjamin and Isaiah pursued
their dream to use the property to establish a community of former
enslaved people. However, their crops were destroyed and they were
unable to pay off the loan. The property was sold back to the Davis
family.
Although Montgomery died in 1877, Isaiah continued his dream of building an independent Black colony. He purchased 840 acres of land, and along with a number of other former enslaved people, founded the town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi in 1887. ads
Engineer and Inventor Benjamin Montgomery
Montgomery learned to survey land, techniques for flood control and the drafting of architectural plans. Commerce flowed through the rivers connecting states, and navigation became difficult due to the differences in the depths of water. Merchandise would be delayed for days if the steamboat were to go adrift, Blackthen.com states. To solve this problem, Montgomery created a propeller for the steamboat that would allow for better navigation through shallow water.
Although Montgomery died in 1877, Isaiah continued his dream of building an independent Black colony. He purchased 840 acres of land, and along with a number of other former enslaved people, founded the town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi in 1887. ads
