They are the part of her story that the system, for all its failures toward her, could not entirely suppress.

The business world failed her.

The history books overlooked her.

But the patent record kept her name, her date, and her claim.

The Recovery Movement and Its Limitations

The broader movement to recover the histories of overlooked inventors, which has gathered momentum particularly since the 1980s, has produced genuine and important results.

More Black inventors are known today than were known fifty years ago.

More women inventors are known today.