Breath Of My Ancestors Minute 3-29-17

Most folk haven’t a clue how much America owes its wealth to the genius of formerly enslaved Africans. On this day, March 29, 1849 Andrew Jackson Beard was born a slave in Jefferson County, Alabama. He obtained his freedom at the age of 15. He built and operated a flour mill. He invented his own version of the plow, patented it and sold it for $4000 in 1884, improved it in 1857 and sold it for $5200. He parlayed that money into $30,000 worth of real estate. In the early days of the railroad coupling cars together was done manually primarily by black people.  Mr. Beard invented a car-coupling device that saved thousands of lives. We need to recognize. This is has been a Breath of My Ancestors Minute-brought to you by the Institute of Radical Reconciliation-We Must Never Forget