Climbing Higher on the Trust of Others

     Last night I was skimming the TV channels when I heard a character from Law and Order utter a certain line and I immediately knew from which book the storyline came. If you have ever read the story of Henrietta Lacks told by Rebecca Skloot (if you haven't you should)there is no way you could ever forget it. More than learning of the great attributions Mrs. Lacks cells have given to science, you learn of the 'lack'of respect, attention, and financial gain contributed to her family. It hurts the heart and sensibilities to know how rich others became while Henrietta's family barely made it through life. The book also informs the readers of the mistreatment in medical treatments and research performed on males and female African-Americans. While reading HELA I was also reminded of the things learned when I was researching for my history book.

Did you know the United States patent laws allowed both free and enslaved inventors to patent their work until 1857? A slave owner named Oscar Stewart applied for a patent on something one of his slaves had invented. Stewart argued that he owned all the results of his slave's labor, whether that work had been manual or mental. Despite the laws, the Patent Office agreed. The patent was granted, giving Stewart credit for the invention. The slave who actually came up with the idea (a cotton-processing device) is mentioned in the patent only as "Ned." Because of the decision in the Stewart case, the patent law was changed to say that a slave could not hold a patent. It was also written with stipulations on the length of citizenship in America.When the Confederate States broke away from the United States in 1861, the Confederate government surprised many people by once again allowing slaves to hold patents.  After the Civil War, however, the patent law was changed again, specifying that all people throughout the United States had the right to patent their own inventions. Makes you wonder who 'really' invented or was used for a lot of things we enjoy today, huh?