The takeaway here seems to be that black inventors in the northern United States, where there was ostensibly less racism, earned patents at nearly the same rate

The takeaway here seems to be that black inventors in the northern United States, where there was ostensibly less racism, earned patents at nearly the same rate as every other race. Black inventors in the south, where the racism was extreme and overt, earned patents at about half that rate. As people have pointed out on hn in the past, patents had a different purpose in the Golden Age than they do now. Corporations essentially outsourced their R&D to private inventors and then did their technology improvements by purchasing patents. This meant that black inventors had to deal with the extra risk of having their patents stolen by any of the white lawyers and professionals who were involved in the process. Getting compensated for developing ideas and prototypes was really running a gauntlet. Quick story about one of my personal heroes, Granville Woods: He invented a multiplex telegraph that allowed two way communication from moving trains. Someone who worked for Thomas Edison filed for the patent before Woods could, but Woods ended up being able to use notes and witnesses to prove that he was first to invent. Edison later appealed the patent office ruling, but ultimately lost. He was impressed enough with Granny that he offered him a significant job at the Edison Company (Woods declined). Woods lived in the north, in Ohio. If he had been born in the south he might have ended up with nothing at all.