The inventions of Henry Blair laid ground to modern agriculture

by Ezekiel J. Walker October 7, 2022Updated January 4, 2023

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Henry Blair was born in Glen Ross, Maryland, in 1807. While little is known about Blair’s personal life or family background, as an adult Blair was a farmer who invented new devices to assist in the planting and harvesting of crops.

Though he lived well before the Emancipation Proclamation would be signed in 1865, Blair was apparently not enslaved and operated an independent business.

A successful farmer, Blair patented two inventions that helped him to boost his productivity. He received his first patent — for a corn planter — on October 14, 1834. The planter resembled a wheelbarrow, with a compartment to hold the seed and rakes dragging behind to cover them.

This device would allow farmers to plant their crops more efficiently and as a result, a greater total yield. Blair signed the patent with an “X,” indicating that he was illiterate.

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Blair obtained his second patent, for a cotton planter, on August 31, 1836. This invention functioned by splitting the ground with two shovel-like blades that were pulled along by a horse or other draft animal. A wheel-driven cylinder behind the blades deposited seed into the freshly plowed ground. The design helped to promote weed control while distributing seeds quickly and evenly.

In claiming credit for his two inventions, Henry Blair became only the second African American to hold a United States patent. While Blair appears to have been a free man, the granting of his patents is not evidence of his legal status.

At the time Blair’s patents were granted, United States law allowed patents to be granted to both free and enslaved men. In 1857, an enslaver challenged the courts for the right to claim credit for an enslaved person’s inventions. Since an enslaver’s enslaved people were his property, the plaintiff argued, anything in the possession of these enslaved people was the owner’s property as well.

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Ezekiel J. Walker

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