THROUGH "COLORED" Eyes

Through “COLORED” Eyes:
The Story of Henry E. Baker, The Man From Mississippi Who Created A List That Changed The World

This book isn’t only about Black inventors—it’s about hidden networks, relationships, influence, and intersections between Black inventors and iconic historical figures such as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Hiram S. Maxim, W.E.B. Du Bois, and others who shaped modern history. The book shows how Black innovators influenced the same world as history’s most celebrated figures.

The book, Through "COLORED" Eyes shares the inspiring story of Henry E. Baker, a U.S. assistant patent examiner who chronicled the original list of Black inventors. It reveals the overlooked relationships between Black inventors and their historical peers and provides a list of 400+ inventions from Henry E. Baker’s journey. The book uses beautiful illustrations and patent drawings to show how inventions work—helping educators, homeschoolers, and parents teach innovation as a connected human story that builds identity, confidence, and creative possibility.

Enjoy the stories. Get the list. See yourself in what you read.

Book Features:

• A compelling biography, telling the story of the historical figure, Henry E. Baker, who first chronicled the list of over 400 African American inventions in 1913
• A bit of contextual history of the U.S. Patent Office.
• Biographies of selected African American inventors from the 1800s and early 1900s
• Historical context of each selected inventor and their invention, showing how the two related to their peers and the era in which they lived.
• Patent drawings of the selected African American inventions from the 1800s and early 1900s
• 3D Illustrations of actual patent drawings, bringing the drawings to life.
• Detailed illustrations of select inventions, showing how they work and what problems they solved.
• A list of over 400 African American inventions, 50 years since the Emancipation Proclamation
• Basics on obtaining patents.