Black History

Lonni Johnson: Top 10 Toys Sold In The World

In 1989, Johnson formed his own engineering firm and licensed his most famous invention, the Super Soaker® water gun, to Larami Corporation. Two years later, the Super Soaker, generated over $200 million in retail sales, and became the number one selling toy in America. Larami Corporation was eventually purchased by Hasbro Corporation, the second largest toy manufacturer in the world. Over the years, Super Soaker sales have totaled close to one billion dollars. Currently, Lonnie Johnson holds over 100 patents, with over 20 more pending, and is the author of several publications on spacecraft power systems.

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The First Black NHL Hockey Player

Willie Eldon O'Ree, CM ONB (born October 15, 1935) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, known best for being the first black player in the National Hockey League. O'Ree played as a winger for the Boston Bruins.

Willie was injured after a terrible accident during a game. The puck hit him in the face and damaged his cornia permanently. Doctors told him that he would not be able to continue to play. Despite all odds, he continued to play and told no one that he could only see out of one eye.

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Dr. Shirley Jackson: Changed How We Communicate

1. She conducted breakthrough scientific research that enabled others to invent the portable fax, touch tone telephone, solar cells, fiber optic cables, and the technology behind caller ID and call waiting
2. Her invention of the technology responsible for Caller ID and Call Waiting stems from days at AT&T Bell Labs where she conducted research in theoretical physics, solid state and quantum physics, and optical physics.
3. She is the first African American woman to receive a doctorate from MIT, and the first African American woman to serve as president at a top-ranked research university.
4. She has been awarded 53 honorary doctoral degrees .

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The Bill Gates of Africa:

In the year 1989, emulating the bees' honeycomb construction, Emeagwali used 65,000 processors to invent the world's fastest computer, which performs computations at 3.1 billion calculations per second.

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