[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 514 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 514

Honoring Thomas Jennings of New York City as the first African-American 
              to be granted a patent by the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 12, 2014

  Mr. Jeffries (for himself, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. 
 Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Richmond, Ms. Clarke of 
 New York, Mr. Rangel, Ms. Fudge, Mr. Rush, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Scott of 
Virginia, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Israel, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney 
   of New York, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Owens, and Mr. Meeks) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                            on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Honoring Thomas Jennings of New York City as the first African-American 
              to be granted a patent by the United States.

Whereas Thomas Jennings was born a free African-American in New York City in 
        1791 and became a successful tailor with a shop on Church Street in New 
        York City;
Whereas Thomas Jennings invented a cleaning process called ``dry scouring'', 
        which was the precursor to dry cleaning;
Whereas, on March 3, 1821, Thomas Jennings became the first African-American to 
        be granted a patent by the United States for his cleaning process;
Whereas, before the Civil War, patent laws made it significantly hard, if not 
        impossible, for slaves to hold a patent, but Thomas Jennings was able to 
        obtain a patent because of his free status; and
Whereas Thomas Jennings utilized the earnings from his invention and business to 
        help advance civil rights for African-Americans and to advocate for the 
        abolition of slavery: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) honors Thomas Jennings as the first African-American to 
        be granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark 
        Office;
            (2) commends Thomas Jennings for his economic contributions 
        to the United States through use of the patent system; and
            (3) acknowledges that Thomas Jennings' inventive 
        contributions encourage Americans to continue a legacy of 
        innovation in the fields of science, technoloy, engineering, 
        and math.
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