Durban — Dr Candice Bailey, Lerato Makate, Sizwe Malinga, Les Owen and Therese Owen celebrated the launch of their newly published book We Were Always Here: Stories of Black Inventors Across the African Diaspora this week at Ike’s Bookshop on Florida Road.
The book is a collection that celebrates the little-known stories of the innovation and ingenuity of Africans who are solving Africa’s problems for African people, and making enormous contributions in their fields to the world.
The Durban launch was the final leg of three. They had hosted two launches in Johannesburg last week where Dr Candice Bailey and Lerato Makate were speakers.
Wednesday’s book launch included guests such as East Coast Radio’s presenter Carol Ofori and author and playwright Gcina Mhlophe.
Sizwe Malinga is a Durban-based writer who contributed to the book by telling stories about individuals who contributed to the world.
“The book came about during the Black Live Matters campaign when West Indian cricket legend Michael Holding was talking about racism, particularly systemic racism, during break in a cricket game at Lords,” said Malinga.
“In an emotional discussion, broadcast on Sky Sports, he cited an example: that even though he went to school in Jamaica he was only taught about inventions by white men. He grew up never knowing that black people invented anything.
“It was only after school that he discovered the role that Lewis Latimer, an African American, played in the invention of the light bulb. Les Owen was watching the broadcast and was so moved he decided to do something about it,” said Malinga.
He said a team of writers was put together by Les Owen, who lectured in the MBA programme at the University of Durban-Westville.
“Les put together a team of writers that included myself, Lerato Makate, a Gauteng-based radio journalist, Durban-based writer Therese Owen and Dr Candice Bailey, an accomplished journalist and researcher of 20 years.
“We researched the book and thousands of names popped up. We chose 40 interesting stories and decided to aim it at the young adult market which is 14-25. Each inventor is featured as a short story to make it easy, quick reading for the young adult,” he said.
“The book took about four years to research and write among us writers. The layout and the printing took another six months. It was challenging yet fun and we all learned so much.
“First, we learnt about the resilience of the human spirit. That these inventors, from as far back as 1870, had the odds of racism stacked against them, yet were still able to make a success of their lives and change the world for the better.
“We wanted to change the perception among many people, black and white, that black people have not invented anything, because they have.
“Automatic lift doors, laser surgery, the first 3D inner ear transplant, CCTV for the home – these are just some of the inventions. We wanted to inspire young black people to dream and to give them role models, who against all odds were able to invent and achieve bigger things.”
They did thorough research before picking who they wanted to feature and eventually came up with a list.
“We started with internet research and if you Google black inventors, past African American inventors pop up first. This is because much has been written about them. This spurred us on because we also wanted to celebrate living inventors across the African diaspora. We interviewed cool inventors from Tanzania, Zambia, Lesotho, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana,” said Malinga.
“We also interviewed people from the US, like Google vice-president Dr Marian Croak, who invented making telephone calls over the internet, as well as Mark E Dean, who co-invented the personal computer for IBM.
“Dr James E West, who was 91 when we interviewed him, invented the electret microphone, the tiny microphone used in cellphones and toys.
“Victor Lawrence from Ghana was one of the pioneers in moving the world from analogue to digital and won an Emmy for high definition TV, which originated in his laboratory.
“We interviewed as many of the living inventors as we could. For people like George Carruthers, who invented a camera that took the first pictures of the Earth’s atmosphere from the moon, we interviewed a researcher from the Smithsonian Museum who knew him well before he died.”
Malinga said he was excited to finally celebrate the achievements of black inventors.
“It feels good to know I am part of a positive story about the achievements of people across the African diaspora. I hope this message reaches every school child, not only in this country, but throughout Africa. It is an important message where brown-skinned teenagers can relate to brown-skinned achievers, not only in the field of STEM, but achievers who are solving African problems with African solutions.”
* We Were Always Here: Stories of Black Inventors Across the African Diaspora is published by TKO Publishing and available online at readerswarehouse.com and book stores.
Independent on Saturday