Indianapolis, IN
Black innovation is American history. – Indianapolis Recorder
As Black History Month continues, the conversation often turns to enduring struggles and cultural triumphs. However, in the halls of the Indiana Statehouse, City-County Councilman Keith Graves (District 9) pointed to a more fundamental truth: the very infrastructure of modern American life — from the traffic light that guides our everyday commute to the refrigerator that preserves our everyday foods — is profoundly shaped by Black inventors whose stories have been systematically overlooked.
“The successes and the value that they (Black innovators) brought to our society is lost over the years, and sometimes intentionally lost,” Graves said during the Indy Black Chamber of Commerce’s Lunch with Legislators event.
Graves highlights figures like Garrett A. Morgan, the son of freed slaves who patented an early three-position traffic signal in 1923, a direct precursor to the lights that now orchestrate global traffic. He points to John Standard, who in 1887 refined the refrigerator with an improved ice-chamber (‘ice box’) design, advancing the technology of modern kitchen preservation.
Perhaps most poetically, Graves notes the humble reservoir in the ballpoint pen, an innovation by William B. Purvis in 1890 that solved the problem of even ink flow.
“All these pens in here,” Graves remarked, “those are Black inventions.”
These are not niche footnotes; they are pillars of daily life. Yet, as Graves argues, the narrative of American innovation has too often been whitewashed.
“We talk a lot about our experiences on the negative side,” Graves said. “I want us to promote the positives that we brought to this country and to the world.”
This erasure has tangible consequences for the present. Graves, a financial advisor with over two decades of experience, connects the historical dots to a contemporary crisis: the stifling of Black wealth creation.
“We had the country’s first Black millionaire in this city,” Graves said, referring to Madam C.J. Walker, the haircare magnate who built her empire in Indianapolis. “And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t see just tons of examples of her legacy around our city. We see Irsay, we see Eskenazi, we see Lucas … but we don’t see Black families’ names on buildings.”
His sentiment underscores a central theme: innovation without ownership and recognition fuels inequality. The genius of Black creators was harnessed to build national prosperity. At the same time, systemic barriers often prevented them and their descendants from fully sharing in its wealth.
The fabric of modern American life is woven with inventions by Black innovators, whose groundbreaking work from the late 19th century onward created the infrastructure of our daily routines. In 1881, Lewis Latimer made electric lighting practical and affordable with his durable carbon filament. Frederick McKinley Jones advanced the modern grocery supply chain in 1940 by inventing the mobile refrigeration unit. This legacy continued into the 1970s with Shirley Jackson, whose pioneering telecommunications research laid the foundation for touch-tone phones, fiber optics and caller ID.
Co-author of “Foundational Black American Inventors: 20 Household Inventions You Use Every Day,” Theresa Almon knows how important it is to preserve Black history for people.
“Why didn’t we learn this in school?” Almon asked on social media. “The doorknob microphone, potato chips and so much more were invented by foundational Black Americans.”
OLED montiors? Invented by Mark Dean. The standing dust pan? Invented by Lloyd Ray. The modern indoor toilet? Created by Thomas Elkins. The lightweight military cot? An invention of Leonard Bailey. The keychain? Frederick Loudin. The modern indoor clothes dryer? George Sampson.
The list of Black innovations is virtually endless.
The councilman’s call is for a conscious re-orientation — in education, in public discourse and in policy.
“We need to be focused on creating Black wealth again,” Graves told the Indianapolis Recorder. Graves views events like “Lunch with Legislators” as foundational for building the alliances necessary to “protect success,” noting that “when we see Black people succeeding, we see the forces that be trying to thwart it.”
Looking forward, Graves announced his kickoff event for his City-County Council re-election campaign, centered on education, homelessness, healthcare access and Indianapolis’ crisis-level eviction rates. His uses his platform as a modern extension of the same fight for equity and recognition.
The story of Black innovation is not a segregated subplot. It is the story of the American pencil, pantry, and street corner. As Graves powerfully reminds us, honoring that history is not merely an act of retroactive gratitude; it is an essential step toward building a future where the next generation of Garrett Morgans and Madam Walkers can see their names — and their legacies — written into the fabric of the nation they helped invent.
“We should be teaching about this all year, not just one month,” Almon said.
Contact Multimedia Reporter Noral Parham at 317=762=7846. Follow him on X @3Noral. For more news, visit indianapolisrecorder.com.
Noral Parham is the multi-media reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the oldest Black publications in the country. Prior to joining the Recorder, Parham served as the community advocate of the MLK Center in Indianapolis and senior copywriter for an e-commerce and marketing firm in Denver.
Watch as Lucas Oil Stadium builds a pool for the USA Olympic swim team trials
Indianapolis is hosting the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium this year from June 15-23. According to USA Swimming’s website, this is the first time the event will be staged on a football field.
INDIANAPOLIS — Five-time Olympic gold medalist Kate Douglass made history Friday night at the TYR Pro Swim Series, becoming the fastest woman ever in the 50-meter freestyle.
Douglass touched the wall in 23.59 seconds at the Indiana University Natatorium, shaving two hundredths of a second off the previous world record of 23.61 set by Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
“I think I’m still in shock,” Douglass said during a post-race interview. “I don’t know what to say.”
The crowd erupted as Douglass looked up at the scoreboard, taking in the significance of her swim. She edged teammate Gretchen Walsh, who finished second in 23.78. Walsh’s time also bettered the previous American record of 23.91, which she and Douglass had shared, but it wasn’t enough to catch Douglass’ world-record performance.
“(I) did not expect a world record in 50 free like ever in my life,” she said.
Known more for her success in the 200-meter breaststroke, where she owns the American record and won Olympic gold, Douglass has built a reputation as one of the sport’s most versatile swimmers. Her latest accomplishment came in one of swimming’s purest sprint events, further showcasing her range.
“I think I just nailed the breakout and I just really accelerated toward the finish,” Douglass said. “I think it’s cool to be able to swim a bunch of different things.”
The swim may also alter her plans for the remainder of the season.
“I don’t think I was planning on doing the 50 free much this summer in August,” Douglass said. “Now maybe we’re rethinking that.”
Jessica Garcete is an IndyStar sports reporter.
(A version of this story first appeared in 2020.)
When the Marott Hotel opened at Meridian Street and North Fall Creek Boulevard in 1926, it was a culmination of 30 years planning for George J. Marott.
Born in Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, Marott emigrated to the United States in 1875 at the age of 16 with his parents. He opened a shoe store in 1884 in Indianapolis, using money he earned from his $10 a week salary as a shoe clerk in a store his father operated, according to an obituary in the Indianapolis Star on February 16, 1946.
Eventually one shoe store became several. A consummate businessman, Marott also purchased electric and heating utilities in Kokomo and interurban lines between Kokomo and Marion and Kokomo and Frankfort, though he eventually sold those.
Marott continued to diversify, building the hotel that bears his name. He worked 12 to 15 hours a day all his life, juggling management of the hotel and his shoe business, his obituary said.
The hotel was his pride and joy; it wasn’t just a hotel, it was also a place where Indianapolis’ high society resided just as New York society did at the Waldorf-Astoria and the Plaza Hotel. Booth Tarkington, Meredith Nicholson and widows of Indianapolis’ long-dead tycoons all took up residence.
“I saw in this property,” Marott said, “the opportunity some to erect some kind of a monumental edifice to the city which I have loved so well and as the time draws near for the realization of a dream, I am convinced anew that my dreams to hold this property for the purpose to which it now is dedicated have been fulfilled.”
Limousines lined the property’s semi-circular drive as visitors in tails and minks arrived to be entertained in the Marott’s Marble Ballroom, Reef Room and Crystal Dining Room.
The hotel guest list over the years was as impressive as the structure itself: Clark Gable, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Bob Hope, Babe Ruth, Herbert Hoover, Helen Hayes and Lauren Bacall.
In 1932, Winston Churchill, then a member of British Parliament, arrived in Indianapolis by train with his daughter, Diana. They were given a hearty welcome by Indianapolis dignitaries, including Mayor Reginald Sullivan, then spirited away to the Marott Hotel where they stayed.
That evening Churchill spoke before a crowd of 1,200 at the Murat Theater on the “destiny of English-speaking peoples.” Churchill was still nursing wounds suffered in a car accident on New York’s Fifth Avenue just months before and did little Indianapolis sightseeing or socializing, but he was entertained by his fellow countryman, George Marott.
Churchill was so impressed with the hotel that he carried back to England a complete plan of the hotel. Marott and Churchill developed a friendship that lasted until Marott’s death in 1946.
A 1940 Indianapolis Star article noted Marott’s career attracted the attention of numerous authors who wanted to write a book about his life, which he found distasteful. Churchill was the most eminent author he refused. When Churchill returned to England, he sent Marott one of his books — an autobiography as proof of his writing ability. Marott cherished the autographed book, even though the text misspelled his name as “Marrot.”
Marott was also known for his generosity. Over the course of his life, he gave away more than $500,000, according to his obituary. Shortly before his death, he donated his shoe store empire to Butler University and his veteran employees, an Indianapolis Star story on January 27 of that year reported. About 20 years later, the employees bought out Butler.
At the age of 87, Marott died in his apartment in the hotel that bore his name. After flourishing for several decades, the Marott Shoe Company closed its downtown store at 18 East Washington Street in June 1978. A few years later, its remaining suburban stores closed as well.
By the 1970s, the Marott had gone through several owners and become low-income apartments. The Marott got a shot in the arm with extensive renovations, and today the Marott apartments are owned by Van Rooy Companies. The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
INDIANAPOLIS — One person is in critical condition following a shooting on Indy’s near east side.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, around 8:10 p.m., officers were called to the 2000 block of East Washington Street on reports of a person shot.
Upon arrival, police located a 50-year-old man with injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.
He is currently reported to be in extremely critical condition.
No additional information has been made available at the time of this article’s publication.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
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