Sarah Boone (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Sarah Marshall; 1832 – 1904) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

inventor. On April 26, 1892, she obtained

United States patent Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...

number 473,563 for her improvements to the

ironing board Ironing is the use of a machine, usually a heated tool (an iron), to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180–220 °Celsius (356-428 Fahrenheit), depending on the fabric. Ironing wor ...

. Boone's ironing board was designed to improve the quality of ironing the sleeves and bodies of women's garments. The ironing board was very narrow, curved, and made of wood. The shape and structure allowed it to fit a sleeve and it was reversible, so one could iron both sides of the sleeve. Boone is regarded as the second African-American woman to attain a patent, after Judy Reed. Along with Miriam Benjamin,

Ellen Eglin Ellen F. Eglin (before 1849 – after 1890) was an African-American inventor who revolutionized the chore of laundry with the invention of the clothes wringer for washing machines and, in the process, made her mark on African Americans and women's ...

, and

Sarah Goode Sarah Elisabeth Goode (1855 – April 8, 1905) was an American entrepreneur and inventor. She was the second known African-American woman to receive a United States patent, which she received in 1885. Biography Born in 1855 in Toledo, Ohio t ...

, Boone was a pioneering African-American woman inventor who developed new technology for the home.

Personal life

Sarah Marshall was born in

Craven County, North Carolina Craven County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,720. Its county seat is New Bern. The county was created in 1705 as Archdale Precinct from the now-extinct Bath County. It was renamed ...

, near the town of

New Bern New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...

, in 1832. Along with her three siblings, she was born into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and barred from formal education. Sarah was educated by her grandfather at home. On November 25, 1847, she married James Boone (or Boon)—a free black man—in New Bern and was granted freedom from slavery. They had eight children. The Boone family left

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

for

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, before the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. They settled into a house at 30 Winter Street. Boone worked as a dressmaker and belonged to the Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church.

Death

Boone died in 1904, and is buried in a family plot in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boone, Sarah 1904 deaths 19th-century American businesswomen 19th-century American businesspeople African-American inventors Women inventors 19th-century American inventors 1832 births People from Craven County, North Carolina 19th-century American slaves American tailors 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 19th-century African-American women

Personal life

Death

See also

References

External links