Sometimes you find a piece of history that hits so many topics that it is remarkable not everyone knows it. Today’s Google Doodle is one of those (The NPR story is here.). Here is a man, Elijah McCoy, who is the definition of an American success story. Despite that, I didn’t know of his existence, even though I used a phrase he inspired hundreds of times. I mean most people have said that someone or some thing was the “Real McCoy) and here we had no idea what it was about.
The story of Elijah McCoy is one that should inspire us all to know that his life is possible in our country. At the same time it should shame us that our country put so many barriers in front of him. The son of escaped slaves who go to Canada to escape slavery in the US, he goes to Scotland, is educated and apprentices as an engineer. He comes back to the states but can’t find employment, because of his race.
McCoy, an engineer, sees a problem and a solution. Trains, then operated by steam engines, have to be stopped in order to oil the engines. He comes up with an invention so good that people want his, and not the knockoffs that appear on the market. From this desire for the authentic oiler we find the phrase “the Real McCoy.”
McCoy held 60 patents, including an ironing table, a lawn sprinkler and many others. From slavery to prosperity in two generations. It is what is the best possibility of our country. Now if we could only make it easier for all and eliminate race as an issue.
The Embed Educator 