Black History Month is vital to remembering and honoring the legends that have built what we take for granted today. In respect of Black History Month, we would like to honor some of the greatest achievements African Americans have made to the automotive industry, and how we continue to enjoy the excellence of these fellow engineers, inventors, and racing prodigies.
At the dawn of the Automobile Age in the early 20th century, hundreds of small auto companies sprouted up across America as entrepreneurs recognized that society was transitioning from horse-drawn carriages to transportation powered by the internal combustion engine. Some of these early companies grew to become giants that are still with us today, such as Ford and Chevrolet.
Although emerging robber barons or “Captains of Industry” dominated the economy through monopolies, smaller independent companies also saw opportunities to put themselves on the map. One such company, C.R. Patterson and Sons, would go on to become an early pioneer for independent car manufacturers and a trailblazer for black entrepreneurs.
C.R. Patterson: Founder of World's First African American Automotive Company
Many have not heard of the legend of C.R. Patterson, the first and only African American founder of an automotive company. C.R. Patterson & Sons Company was founded in 1893, stemming from a partnership with J.P. Lowe in the carriage-making business.
Charles Richard Patterson was born into slavery on a Virginia plantation in 1833. Not much is known about his life on the plantation, and historians have to sift through conflicting reports about how he came to settle in Greenfield, Ohio, a town with strong abolitionist sympathies. Some say his family arrived in the 1840s, possibly after purchasing their freedom; others suggest Patterson alone escaped in 1861. In any case, he learned the skills of the blacksmith and found work in the carriage-making trade, where he developed a reputation for building a high quality product.
Read also: Experience Fad's Fine African Cuisine
C.R. Patterson is the epitome of a rags to riches story, as he began life a slave in a West Virginia plantation in 1833. After escaping to Ohio in the 1860's, C.R. Patterson went on to learn blacksmith trade skills that would attribute to his success in the automotive industry.Patterson, in addition to working as a foreman where he developed a reputation for overseeing the production of high-quality products, was also a trustee of the Greenfield African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1880, where he also taught Sunday school. When his son was denied admission to an all-white secondary school in the area, he filed a lawsuit against the local Board of Education, a case which he won.
In 1873, he formed a business partnership with another carriage maker in town, J.P. Lowe, who was white, and eventually became sole proprietor of the renamed C.R. Patterson & Sons in 1893. It was a successful business employing an integrated workforce of 35-50 by the turn of the century, and Charles Patterson became a prominent and respected citizen in Greenfield.
Commonly known as the Panic of 1893, the depression lasted four years and saw stock prices plummet and unemployment skyrocket across the country reaching as high as 25 percent. Patterson, seeking to start his own company, used the opportunity to buy out Lowe’s shares and became the sole proprietor of the company, renaming it C.R. Patterson and Sons, an act virtually unheard of at the time for a Black man.
Following his death in 1910, Charles’s son, Frederick Douglas Patterson inherited his father’s carriage business. In addition to graduating top of his class in high school and being the first black athlete to play football for Ohio State University, Frederick Douglas Patterson was also the vice president of the National Negro Business League. The organization, founded by Booker T. Washington in 1900, was designed to generate economic growth and autonomy within the Black community. Frederick, utilizing his entrepreneurial disposition, quickly recognized the potential and growing popularity of horseless carriages and produced the company’s first automobile in 1915.
Following the production of the Patterson-Greenfield Automobile, he became the first and only Black owner and operator of an automobile Company. Frederick said of the Patterson- Greenfield Automobile: “It is not intended for a large car. It is designed to take the place originally held by the family surrey. It is a 5-passenger vehicle, ample and luxurious.” The Company offered several models of coupes and sedans including a state-of-the-art 4-cylinder 30 hp Continental “Red Devil” speedster. Ads featured the car's 30hp Continental 4-cylinder engine, full floating rear axle, cantilever springs, electric starting and lighting, and a split windshield for ventilation.
Read also: The Story Behind Cachapas
C.R. Patterson & Sons were direct competitors to newly established Ford, and without the same funding, C.R. Patterson switched his focus to manufacture buses, trucks, and other utility vehicles. The company was well respected and saw considerable success but failed to keep up with Ford’s assembly line manufacturing capacity at the turn of the century.
In 1918, C.R. Patterson & Sons halted their auto production and concentrated once again on the repair side of the business. By the 1920s, they started focusing on building and designing truck and bus bodies, which were fitted to chassis made by other manufactures.
C.R. Patterson & Sons became the go to manufacturer for buses in midwestern school districts that had recently abandoned horse-drawn carriages in 1920. The C.R. Patterson & Sons Company bus made headway in helping school districts across the country transfer from traditional horse drawn carriages to one of the first ever combustion engine vehicles leading the way to the transportation we see in businesses and schools today.
Then in 1929, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression set in. As with many small businesses, sales dried up and loans were hard to obtain. The company, now run by the sons of Frederick Patterson, soldiered on until 1939 when, after 74 years, C.R. Sadly, no Patterson-Greenfield automobiles are known to survive today.
Homer Roberts: First African American Car Dealership Owner
Homer Roberts was critical to the advancement of African American society by exclusively brokering deals to many first time African American car buyers, and built his business from 7 used cars to a Ford franchise of 60 vehicles.
Read also: Techniques of African Jewellery
Homer Roberts not only became the first African American dealership owner, but led the industry in sales for Rickenbacker, an American automobile manufacturer selling sport coupes, touring cars, and sedans out of detroit. Not only was he first, Homer Roberts led the nation in Rickebacker and Hupmobile sales in the 1920's.
Pictured here is the very first African American owned car dealership that Homer Roberts then went on to build out to a Ford franchise showroom, service and parts department, body shop, and even a gast station.
Charlie Wiggins: African American Racing Legend
A need for speed: Charlie Wiggins legacy as a champion
Charlie Wiggins began his childhood shining shoes across the street of an auto repair shop in the early 1900's. One day he was invited in to help work in the shop, and a few years later he became chief mechanic at the start of World War 1.
Charlie Wiggins then moved to Indiana in 1922 where he opened his own garage and began to pursue his racing dream. Segregated from the Indy 500, Charlie Wiggins and other African American drivers began their own racing league, which drew a fanbase of 12,000 in their first debut race in 1924.
Over his racing career, Charlie Wiggins won 3 Gold and Glory Sweepstake Championships. He then used his fame to speak against segregation in the automotive industry, quickly becoming a KKK target. Charlie Wiggins honorably kept pursuing African American excellence in racing until the year he died in 1972.
Pictured is Charlie Wiggins racing in his racecar named "the Wiggins Special", a vehicle he built in his own garage using salvaged junkyard parts. Astonishingly, it was this same vehicle he managed to win several races in and cemented him as one of the first African American racecar drivers.
Wendell Scott: African American NASCAR Legend
Wendell Scott served in the segregated army in World War 2 and came back to open up an auto repair shop. Wendell had inherited his love for automotive from his father who worked as a driver for wealthy white families.
Once Wendell came back from the war he found himself illegally running mooonshine in the backroads of Virginia until he was stopped in 1949. After his stint running whiskey, Wendell Scott started attending local stockcar races where he soon realized his true passion was in racing, and began to find his way into the racing scene.
Wendell Scott became the first African American to race in NASCAR, and finished top 10 in over one fifth of his races. As such was his legendary career that his life was made into the movie Greased Lightening.
Wendell Scott was first banned from competing in NASCAR because of the color of his skin. He was persistent however, and continued to dominate smaller stockcar races until eventually he was accepted into NASCAR as the first licensed African-American NASCAR driver.
George Washington Carver: Bio-Fuel Inventions in Automotive
George Washington Carver may be familiar to some for his inventions in science and technology, but what many do not realize is the significance he had in the early stages of the automotive industry.
Long time friend of Henry T. Ford, Carver worked with Ford to create a rubber substance from Goldenrod that would become the main product for tires. His research went on to fuel several other automotive initiatives, and we are thankful for the hand he had in building automotive components for the industry.
Garret Morgan: Traffic Safety Pioneer
To this day Garret Morgan has contributed one of the most important pieces of technology to safe daily driving. Before Garret Morgan had a hand in automotive traffic management, traffic lights used to switch from green to red without warning.
It was Garret Morgan who introduced the yellow traffic signal, and ended up becoming one of the biggest deterrents to auto collision in the early stages of automobiles.
Richard B. Spikes: Inventor of the Turning Signal
Still foreign technology to some, Richard B. Spikes was a highly intelligent African American engineer that patented the technology for the first ever turn signals. Additionally, Spikes continued to invent other automotive safety components such as safety brakes and even an automatic car washer.
| Name | Contribution |
|---|---|
| C.R. Patterson | Founder of the first African American automotive company |
| Homer Roberts | First African American car dealership owner |
| Charlie Wiggins | African American racing legend |
| Wendell Scott | First African American NASCAR driver |
| George Washington Carver | Bio-fuel inventions in automotive |
| Garret Morgan | Traffic safety pioneer (inventor of the yellow traffic signal) |
| Richard B. Spikes | Inventor of the turning signal |
