On this day in 1834, Henry Blair received a patent for inventing the corn seed planter. Blair, who lived in Maryland a slave-holding state, was illiterate. It is unknown if he was slave or free. He went on to design and patent a cotton planter.
In 1857 patent rights were denied to slaves and were restored after the Civil War. Blair died in 1860, the year the war began.
Photo: Wikipedia
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