Black Inventions Before Breakfast
Lonnie Johnson, inventor. Creator of the Super Soaker.
A security system protected your home while you slept. A traffic light regulated your commute to work. You passed a refrigerated truck keeping groceries fresh on their way to the supermarket.
For many, these are simply facts of daily life. Yet they exist, in part, because of Black inventors—men and women whose contributions have too often been minimized, misattributed, or erased from the American ledger.
From Monday, February 2, through Saturday, February 14, 2026, The Original Traveling Black Inventions Museum returns to the Northeast Louisiana Delta African American Heritage Museum. More than a tradition, this recurring exhibition is a necessary act of historical preservation.
Truth Over Palatability
In recent years, we have seen a growing national trend toward “softening” history. Across the country, there are efforts to narrow how American life is presented in classrooms and museums—often under the guise of making history more “comfortable.”
But when history is edited for comfort, truth is the first thing lost.
This erosion, affecting how we talk about struggle, reaches deep into the world of achievement. When we stop teaching the full context of our history, the names and faces behind our greatest breakthroughs begin to disappear. Innovation becomes an abstraction rather than a legacy we can see, touch, and claim.
The Evidence of Ingenuity
The Original Traveling Black Inventions Museum presents invention as evidence. It restores credit where it was stripped away and corrects a historical record that has remained incomplete.
Brother Umar Bey, curator The Original Black Inventions Traveling Museum.
Did You Know?
The Three-Position Traffic Signal: In 1923, Garrett Morgan patented a signal that added a “yield” position. Before his invention, signals moved abruptly from “Stop” to “Go,” causing frequent accidents. His design is the direct ancestor of every traffic light in use today.
Mobile Refrigeration: Frederick McKinley Jones co-founded Thermo King after inventing the first portable air-cooling units for trucks. This changed how we buy groceries and revolutionized the transport of blood plasma and medicine during World War II.
The Home Security System: In 1966, nurse Marie Van Brittan Brown patented the first closed-circuit television security system, including a motorized camera, two-way microphones, and remote door unlocking. It was the foundation of modern home security and smart-home technology.
Advanced Telecommunications: Dr. Shirley Jackson, the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. from MIT, conducted theoretical physics research that helped enable touch-tone phones, fiber-optic cables, and caller ID.
The Super Soaker: Engineer Lonnie Johnson holds more than 100 patents. While best known for the Super Soaker water gun, his ongoing work focuses on advanced systems that convert heat into electricity. Watch this to learn more.
A Legacy for the Delta
For young visitors, these stories are more than “fun facts”. They demonstrate that innovation is imagined, engineered, and built. What future inventor from Monroe, Bastrop, or Tallulah walks through our doors today—only to profoundly change how the world works tomorrow?
For adults, the exhibit is a reminder that our modern world was built by people history books often failed to acknowledge.
Here at the Northeast Louisiana Delta African American Heritage Museum, we are committed to telling the full story of the American experience. More than a tradition, hosting this exhibit is a deliberate act of stewardship. It ensures that even when records elsewhere are diluted or challenged, the facts remain available here—in our community—for everyone.
Come see the genius for yourself.
February 2 — February 14, 2026
10am - 4pm
For more information contact us.
