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Eli Whitney Ain’t Black
By Avery | September 14, 2006
Every once in a while, something comes along that just flat-out surprises me. This most recent surprise comes courtesy of the fact that there seem to be a whole lot of people who think Eli Whitney was Black. Frankly, I don’t understand how anybody could have that misconception. Or maybe put a little milder, I never thought he was. Number one, I just never thought he was from the get-go, but if I went so far as to think about it logically, there’s no way the inventor of the cotton gin would have been Black. Not because a Black man couldn’t or wouldn’t have thought of it, but because at that time in American history, what Black man would get credit for having invented anything?
Did anybody else think Eli Whitney was Black?
Topics: Everwhatever |
September 15th, 2006 at 11:43 am
For some reason I’ve always thought he was black. I also always thought he invented the cotton Gin, to ease the suffering of slaves, but it had the opposite effect, making Slave owner ship even more lucrative, which of course accelerated the institution. Not uncommon for an inventor to not fully understand economics.
September 16th, 2006 at 1:59 am
I never knew he had a “n” in his last name. All these years I’ve been calling him Eli “Whitey”!
September 20th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
I think I remember hearing that he was and being a little surprised. I had never assumed he was black as a kid.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:00 am
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October 9th, 2006 at 1:32 am
i knew he wasn’t black. but it isn’t because black people weren’t credited with anything. remember george washington carver? the more logical explanation is that the type of black person with the skills to design machinery was most likely either not in the south, or was engaged in some other activity–perhaps pursuing higher education.
October 20th, 2006 at 5:55 am
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November 8th, 2006 at 12:55 am
I did think and in fact was taught Eli Whitney was black. I don’t know why I was taught this fallacy.
Last week and today in a clg history class I was told and we had to have the professor google it for I was not alone to get us to believe he was not black.
I am however relieved since with this cotton (en)gin(e) he paved the way for the expansion of slavery west. This is one invention I’d gladly give away.
December 7th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
sprint…
ringtone…
January 6th, 2007 at 2:00 am
I also grew up believing he was Black. When I started teaching, I heard he was white. Searching the net doesn’t clear it up.
January 15th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
[…] Remember that post where I was all surprised that people thought that Eli Whitney was Black? Well I just found out that Bobby Caldwell, the singer of What You Won’t Do For Love, ain’t Black either. If that don’t beat all! I think I’m only slightly more nonplussed now than I was when I found out that Lisa Stansfield wasn’t Black. But at least with Lisa Stansfield, I was only fooled for a month or so. This dude, I been thinkn’ he was Black since the 70’s. […]
February 10th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
My dad just told me Eli Whitney was not a black man. I learned he was in school. I even remember the picture in the history book of him. What is up with that??
April 15th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
It’s one of those things that comes up every now and again. I live in and grew up in Milwaukee, WI. For the record my brother, my sister, and myself were ALL taught in school that Eli Whitney was a black man. It wasn’t a matter of “yeah, he’s black” by simply looking at the picture in the textbook. There never WAS a picture from what I recall. But for years I blindly trusted that what they taught us in school was true(go figure). I doubt that governed schooling ever does this kind of thing intentionally or with any agenda in mind…(ha).
July 6th, 2007 at 8:24 am
I teach hs history and I’ve found that in the 60s and 70s this idea started up as an irony… “Isn’t it ironic that a black man invented the machine that made slavery properous again…” It stuck in the heads of the people who are now the teachers. Almost all of my students learned this factoid (false) from an elementary school teacher. Love them for teaching the little ones, but their background in history usually comes from their own highschool teachers… not college or scholarship.
My students are always shocked when we look up Whitney’s background.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I was never taught that he was black. I do remember being taught that a black man actually invented the cotton gin, but Eli Whitney took the credit for the invention. I never remember seeing any photos of Eli Whitney in the textbooks though.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Eli Whitney is black so blow that smoke up someone’s elese’s ass!!!!!!
February 4th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I showed a picture of Eli Whitney durning Black istory Month to my class (I teach pre-shcool and they are 3 years old), and one of my students said this is black history month and that man is white we have to have him for white history month.
April 5th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Avery is right, the misinformation is because an African slave came up with the idea for the cotton gin. Somehow this weird story came out from this.
When I was in school in the 60’s, the story was there. I think it’s a product of the early 70’s.
I don’t know why this continues, there are plenty of black inventors that should get the attention
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Eli Whitney received a U.S. patent for his refined cotton gin in 1794 after stealing the idea from a black man. Blacks in those days didn’t get credit for inventing anything.
So when you hear that the cotton Gin was invented by a black man you hear right. But that is not to confuse Eli Whitney as a black slave.
It only takes one drop of black blood to be a black man. (One drop theory)