Created Equal

Black Americans have largely been left out of the story of American invention. In the north and south, patents from Black inventors tell a different story about innovation and U.S. history. Andre Perry is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His recent work dives into the world of American Invention, and takes a look at how discrimination affected Black inventors differently in the North and South. He spoke with Stephen Henderson about why it matters to the American notions of innovation and exceptionalism. How does race play into the way we think of our history of invention?