Ironing board historical bunk
The following sources attribute the invention of the ironing board to a former American slave named Sarah Boone in 1892, even though the ironing board had been invented long before that.
February 4, 2002 Monday FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. 11A
HEADLINE: Delve into black history to help bury racism
&
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
February 1, 2002 Friday FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 15A
by Jennifer Epps
[. . .]
I learned that many of us would not be able to go about our daily routines without the contributions of black American inventors. We wouldn't have freshly ironed clothes without a black woman named Sarah Boone inventing the ironing board.We are able to do those "professional"-looking hairstyles thanks to a black man named Walter Sammons, who invented the comb, and a black woman, Lydia Newman, who invented the hair brush.
Buying in bulk would be impossible without John Standard, a black man who invented the refrigerator. God forbid a family member ever needed heart surgery, because without Dr. Charles Drew, a black scientist who found a way to preserve and store blood, and Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a black man who performed the first open-heart surgery, this would not be possible.
November 24, 2001, Saturday , METRO
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 2
HEADLINE: DID YOU KNOW?
The predecessor to the modern ironing board was patented in 1892 by Sarah Boone. It was made of a narrow wooden board with collapsible legs and a padded cover.
JULY 14, 1999, WEDNESDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: HOME; Pg. 2/Z1
HEADLINE: TIME TRIPPING
1892: Sarah Boone designs the ironing board in the United States
June 20, 1999, Sunday Correction Appended
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: LOCAL, Pg. 1C
BYLINE: RON DePASQUALE; News Staff Reporter
The Black Inventors Exhibit, founded by James Ince of Brooklyn, is new to Juneteenth this year, although the exhibit has already visited some Buffalo public schools. The exhibit, which operates on donations, aims to teach what people did not learn in history and science, Ince said. Inventors featured included W.B. Purvis, who created the fountain pen in 1890, and Sarah Boone, who invented the ironing board in 1887.
March 16, 1999 Tuesday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: EVERYWOMAN; Pg. 1F
HEADLINE: THE MOTHERING OF INVENTIONS;
WOMEN GET MORE PATENTS, FIND NICHE IN INVENTORS HALL
By MICHELE M. MELENDEZ; PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
In 1892, Sarah Boone invented the ironing board.
August 1, 1998, Saturday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: BAYLIFE AT HOME, Pg. 1
HEADLINE: Local expert's book helps green thumbs;
BYLINE: (Compiled by Beth Dolan);
Early ironing boards simply consisted of a wooden plank placed across two chairs or a plain table top. The early collapsible-leg, padded, wooden ironing board was the brainchild of Sarah Boone, a former slave who patented her idea in 1892.
April 24, 1998, FRIDAY, Late Sports Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS; QUICK TAKES; Pg. 40
HEADLINE: New song: 'State Street, That 87 37' W Street'
SOURCE: RICH HEIN
BYLINE: BY ZAY N. SMITH
Just a wrinkle in time
Sarah Boone invented the ironing board 106 years ago the day after tomorrow.
February 3, 1999, Wednesday, Final EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL/OPINION, Pg. 16
HEADLINE: BLACK HISTORY: SOMETHING TO BRAG ABOUT
BYLINE: NICHOLAS DAVIS
Did you comb your hair today? Thank Walter Simmons, it was his invention. Lydia O. Newman invented the brush, Sarah Boone the ironing board and George T. Samon invented the clothes dryer.
February 14, 1998, Saturday, 0 South Pinellas Edition
SECTION: FLORIDIAN; HOME & GARDEN; Pg. 1D
HEADLINE: Simply ingenious: the ironing board
Next time you haul out the ironing board to press away the wrinkles in your clothes, remember whom you have to thank for this device: a former slave.
Sarah Boone who came up with the idea for the collapsible ironing board, which she had patented in 1892.
"Boone came up with an idea for a narrow wooden board, with collapsible leg supports and covered with padding," writes James Michael Brodie in Created Equal: The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators. "Prior to her ironing board, this task normally required taking a plank and placing it between two chairs, or simply using the dining table."
Black History Month is an appropriate time to celebrate Boone, one of a long line of African-American men and women who invented labor-saving devices we use around the house and garden every day: the metal oven rack, the eggbeater, furniture casters, curtain rods, the mop, the dustpan, the swiveling lawn sprinkler, the rotary-blade lawn mower and the golf tee.
"Dozens of practical devices that we could scarcely imagine life without were invented and patented by African-Americans about whom we know next to nothing . . . None of these inventors will ever be famous, but their collective achievement should be," says a summary of their accomplishments on the Lemelson-MIT Prize Program Web site, which acknowledges the spirit of invention.
February 14, 1996, Wednesday, 3 STAR Edition
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1
HEADLINE: Business a learning experience;
Teacher gets some tough lessons
BYLINE: CHARLES BOISSEAU; Staff
The calendar spotlighted black inventors, including Sarah Boone, credited with inventing the ironing board.
December 25, 1994, Sunday, Final Edition
SECTION: BOOK WORLD; PAGE X12
HEADLINE: NEW IN PAPERBACK
Created Equal: The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators, by James Michael Brodie (Quill, $ 12).
[. . .]
There are . . . men and women whose accomplishments are scarcely known -- Sarah Boone, who invented the ironing board, Joseph Lee, who invented a bread-making machine, and Henry Bowman, who invented a flag-making machine.
February 1, 1990, THURSDAY, THREE STAR Edition
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 3C
HEADLINE: INVENTIONS OF BLACKS GET US THROUGH DAY
BYLINE: Edda R. Pittman
Your ironing board, with its collapsible leg support, is the invention of Sarah Boone.
July 25, 1994, Monday, City Edition
SECTION: TAMPA BAY AND STATE; Pg. 1B
HEADLINE: Schools broaden view of history
BYLINE: TERESA D. BROWN
DATELINE: TALLAHASSEE
Rep. Rudolph Bradley, D-St. Petersburg, who sponsored the bill in the House, wants children to know that blacks introduced society to ordinary things such as the fountain pen (W.B. Purvis, 1890), the railway signal (A.B. Blackburn, 1888), the traffic light (Garrett Morgan, 1923), the ironing board (Sarah Boone, 1892), the air-conditioning unit (Fred Jones, 1942), and the sugar refining process (Norbert Rillieux, 1806).
February 2, 1992, Sunday, QUEENS AND BROOKLYN EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; QUIZ; Pg. 2
HEADLINE: Test Yourself About Black History
BYLINE: Tina Morales. Sharon Washington
[quiz question]
12. An African-American woman invented the ironing board.[answer]
12. True. Patented by Sarah Boone, 1892.
February 19, 2004, Page 1C
Headline: KIDS LEARN LEADERS' TRIUMPHS
By Michael Barber, Herald Staff Writer
Lynette Edwards, an assistant superintendent of Manatee County Schools, mentioned some of the inventions that black Americans have produced, such as air conditioning (Frederick Jones), the traffic light (Garrett Morgan), the fountain pen (W.B. Purvis) and the ironing board (Sarah Boone).