But the formal structure of the patent system existed within a social and economic context that was profoundly racially discriminatory in ways that shaped the ability of Black Americans to participate in the system effectively.

Access to the legal knowledge and financial resources needed to navigate the patent application process was distributed very unequally along racial lines.

The ability to commercialize a patented invention — to find manufacturing partners, investors, and distribution channels — was subject to racial discrimination that the patent system itself could not address.

The history of Black American inventors and patents is a history of navigating this gap: between the formal openness of the patent system and the practical barriers that racial discrimination placed between Black inventors and commercial success.

Black Americans have been inventing things and obtaining patents since the nineteenth century.